Jam Transit Hyems (Under Refurbishment)
by Welcome To Story Time
Summary: Those who are following this story, we recommend you start following the rewrite. Something is actually happening there and we would hate for you to miss it. -Jean & Diana
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: We own nothing...physically –shifty eyes-**

Prologue  
>Of Prison Cells and Radio Reports<p>

The first thing that returns to you as you regain consciousness, Ian noticed, is your hearing.  
>He could hear the whispers of the other captives; there are ten of them all working in the Special Forces. The sound of wind rushing past the rusted barred window of his cell. The sound of heavy footsteps coming down the stone corridor.<br>Next is your sense of touch, as rough calloused hands yanked him up off the floor by his right arm, and thrown against the cold, damp, stone wall of his cell, the piercing pain of the flesh on the back of his scalp breaking as his head whiplashes against it. While this is happening he realises that his taste and smell has returned as the cheap, stale cologne reaches into his nostrils, so bitter he can taste it.  
>Lastly, is sight. Blurry at first but after a minute he can see his captors cruel, scarred faces, sneering at him. Ian could see the faces of the other captives glancing up at him, looking worried but they learnt early on not to intervene.<p>

A few months ago he would've fought back himself but all his strength, physical and mental, had left him. He had lost count of the days he had been trapped in this dark cell and after the beatings, failed escape attempts and the malnutrition, he no longer cared, he was on his own. It wasn't until about three weeks ago that he had started to get some 'bunkmates' and in a way that had helped get rid of some of his hopelessness, it gave him a new reason to keep fighting, to not give up. They were all younger than Ian was, some by more than ten years, leaving Ian with a protective complex over them, the youngest was only nineteen, just a few years older than his nephew and as far as Ian was concerned, they could pick him up, throw him against the walls, do whatever, Ian no longer gave a damn but the moment they touched any of the others, there was going to be hell to pay, this in turn also gave the captors more leverage against Ian, making him suffer because they couldn't get near the other captives.  
>The fist hit him full on the jaw.<p>

" You listening to me, Rider?"  
>Its was only then did Ian realise that he was being talked too. The man had a pudgy, cruel face. Scarred from many fights and a badly set nose that must've been broken in one of them. His eyes, looked black in the dim light, were uneven. The right one was a little higher than the left.<br>Ian was then whacked round the head with a...newspaper?

"Brought you some reading material, go on take a look"  
>Ian looked at the title.<br>_San Francisco Chronicle_.  
>Ian looked at the man curiously. Why did he just give him a San Francisco newspaper?<br>The man just smirked.

"Keep reading"

_San Francisco Chronicle, January, Friday 13, 2012. _  
>Ian froze. It had nearly been three years. Three Bloody Years!<br>Ian glared up at the man, who in return chuckled darkly.

" That's not even the best part yet, just keep reading Rider"  
>Ian glanced at the paper.<p>

" Didn't think you would be interested in the Black Friday sales. Do you want me to buy you something?"  
>Ian heard the other captives stifle a laugh, one coming out as a snort, making them laugh harder. The man glowered at Ian.<p>

"So, the comedian is back. Can't say I missed you. Turn the page Rider!"  
>Ian did as he was told.<br>_Local High School under Investigation_

"Why should this..." Ian was cut off.

"Down one"

Ian looked at the story title below.  
><em>Pacific Heights High School Soccer Team Goes to State!<br>_Scanning the faces of the teenagers, Ian finally understood why they had given him the paper.

_Alexander Rider-Pleasure, Aged 16 ( Co-Captain/Striker)_

Ian looked at his nephew's face. The baby features gone, now replaced with the same sharp features of his father. His blonde hair had darkened maybe by two shades. More of a dirty blonde in comparison to the golden haired boy he knew. Another thing, the 'boy' was definitely no longer a child. He was now a young man.

What had Ian missed in the years that he was gone? Why was Alex living in San Francisco? Why was his surname Pleasure? Where is Jack?

The paper was torn away from him, leaving his hands cut and stinging, not that Ian noticed. He was too caught up in his own thoughts.  
>There was a clang as the cell door shut, the men started to walk away.<br>The man with the crooked eyes stopped.

"Don't despair Rider, we're under new management, you will see your nephew again sooner than you think" The man laughed, and walked out of the corridor, leaving Ian numb, and confused, with ten other men staring.

...Line Break...

_"Twenty-one year old, Andrew Hilliard was abducted from his Los Angles home last Wednesday night. Hilliard worked in Special Forces and is the tenth man with connections to the Special Forces to go missing in the past three weeks. Police are not suggesting that these disappearances are connected but they have not ruled it out"_

Yassen Gregorovich turned down the volume on his car radio as he watched the family across the road move in, a small smile playing on his lips as he studied the face of his former mentor whilst he juggled cardboard boxes. A beautiful blonde women trying to organise the two teenagers as they got out the car using every excuse in the book to get out of the work, the younger female dragging her older brother out by his leg, their father scolding them for their foolishness.  
><em>Yes<br>_Yassen thought to himself.  
><em>I think it's about time I had a talk with little Alex<em>

Yassen turned the car keys, his Lexus rumbled into life, he pulled out, driving away from the housing estate.

**A.N  
>Wow a new story! This plot bunny kind of slapped us in the face. It does break our 'Dead stay Dead' rule but hell now it's just a guideline we no longer follow.<strong>

**This story would've actually been posted yesterday but sadly Word crashed and we lost everything.  
>Also we distracted from the plot when our drunk older brother came into the room much to our amusement<br>"Josh your sisters are laughing at you"  
>"No they're not they're laughing with me"<br>five minutes later  
>"Josh! Why did you put F***** bourbon in your little sister's drink!"<br>"But I didn't"  
>"Yes you F***** did I can F***** smell it"<strong>

**Haha good times...Happy Meals  
>For all you Americans, we need some information like<br>How many school periods in a day?  
>How long is a school day?<br>Headmaster or Principal?  
>Term or Semester?<br>Homeroom or Form Class?  
>Public Schools, do they have Uniform?<br>What are American high schools actually like? Are the TV Shows/Movies over exaggerated or are they actually like that?  
>What is Homecoming and Prom? Why do they matter? What time of the year do they usually happen?<br>How would your school react to a British, kept to themselves, teenager?  
>This information is critical for the next chapters so the sooner you want us to update the sooner we need the information.<br>So Please Review!**

**-Jean & Diana **


	2. Red Sky in Morning

**AN  
>Okay first off, thank you for all the reviews it was a bit of a culture shock though (12 periods in a day! We only have five, each one 55 minutes long) Also one person was saying that Alex should go to a private school because Brooklands was private. Here's the thing, the very first copies of the Alex Rider series, the English Edition, Brooklands is a Co-Ed public school with Mr Bray as the principal, English public schools have uniforms, also it says in Stormbreaker that even though Alex could've easily gotten into a private school, Ian thought that a public one would've been more of a challenge for Alex. So while the American publishers were putting things into American lingo, they made Brooklands an all boys private school. We found this out when we pre-ordered Scorpia Rising and got it as hard cover American edition, and everything that we knew about Brooklands had changed. Another thing, Sabina goes to a public school, it says as much in Scorpia Rising, and due to Alex's mental state at the end of the series, I don't think they would chuck him into a private school where he knows no-one, they would send him to the same school as Sabina. Okay also I'm sorry but there won't be any K-unit, in this story, because an English SAS unit wouldn't be in America.<br>Anyways sorry for the long introduction and you know the drill, we don't own anything because Anthony is too stubborn, ah well never mind try again next chapter.**

Chapter One  
>Red sky in morning...<p>

Alex by any definition was _not _a morning person. He loathed them. Also it didn't help that this morning he woke up suffocating. He opened his eyes to see a great big lump of chocolate brown fur that Sabina referred to as a dog sitting on his chest gnawing at its leg.

"Get off me, Brax" Alex mumbled while trying not to inhale any fur.  
>When the dog just decided to stare at him, Alex shoved him, not gently, onto the floor. Brax nearly face planted the carpet, but he didn't seem fazed, he just sat up and looked up at Alex with his tongue out, tail wagging.<br>Alex swung his legs off the bed, and ran his fingers through his hair, he sighed.

"Come on you stupid mutt, let's go get you some breakfast"

"He's already been fed, he's just being greedy" Alex looked up. Sabina was leaning on the bedroom doorframe, already dressed for school, blue eyes sparking with amusement.  
>This was her last year of high school; she was already looking for universities. She wanted to be a fashion designer, and had even looked at possible campuses overseas.<br>Alex didn't want her to leave though, even though Alex had lived with her family for almost two years now, he wouldn't feel comfortable living with her parents without her around.  
>" Alex it's twenty past seven, you really need to get out of bed"<p>

" Umphh" Alex rubbed the back of his neck, and looked back up at her. "Do I have to?"  
>She just laughed, and rolled her eyes at him.<p>

"We have this conversation every Friday, Alex, get out of bed, and get ready for school. You know, I take back everything I said when I was younger about wanting a sibling, because you're just a royal pain in the ass"

Alex grinned at her.  
>"You know you love me".<p>

Sabina just laughed, and walked away, with a Labrador trailing behind her.

It only took Alex five minutes to get showered, and start getting dressed. He looked at his torso in the floor length mirror in his room. There was a museum of scars marring his chest, each one telling its own story.  
>One long scar over his heart. Liverpool Street.<br>Another along his stomach. Bullring, South of France.  
>Choppy ones around his hips. Canoeing towards Bora Falls, unknown island off the coast of Australia.<br>Burn marks over his shoulders, and the back of his neck. Small airfield, Kenya.  
>His bangs covered the scars on his head from the car crusher, and the collision with the train in the French Alps. There was also a small straight scar along his neck from a close call of a sniper, looking at it reminded him of Yassen. He had a similar scar along his neck. One exception though, Yassen's shooter, Alex's Dad, pulled the trigger to save his life, not to take it.<br>Then looking in the mirror again, Alex focused on his eyes. Brown, closed off, and jaded. Cairo.  
>Alex leaned on the mirror, eyes squished shut, trying to stop the flood of memories. Jack's look of hope, thinking she had an escape plan. The jeep bursting into hot, red flames. Alex's doppelganger bleeding from a bullet in the head, killed by Alex's own hand. These scars were only noticeable to those who looked closely, unlike the others, these weren't able to be seen if the owner of them didn't want them to be, but they were still there.<br>Alex opened his eyes, pulled on a shirt, hiding the markings on his body. He looked at his right wrist. A few months ago, out of pure anger, and rebellion, he decided to get a tattoo.  
>It was the Scorpia symbol, about five inches long, two wide, in line with his pinkie finger.<br>Underneath it was the words, Veni, Vedi, Vixi, Vici, it was an extended version of the actual saying. This one meaning; I came, I saw, I lived, I conquered. He thought the saying was fitting with the situation, but he was not prepared for the Pleasure's reaction to it.  
>They were furious with him, they grounded him for a month, and he must keep it covered at all times, because the symbol was such a controversial one. Sabina even bought him a bandanna to cover it with.<br>He was doing this now. Wrapping the material around his wrist, making sure nothing showed, and then weaving his wooden beaded necklace in with it, given to him by Ian when he was thirteen.

Alex walked towards the window, stopping to stroke the picture frame sitting on his bedside table that contained him and Jack, and threw open the curtains.  
>The sight startled him. The sunrise had turned the sky into a brilliant red. What was that saying that Jack always told him? Red sky at night, Sheppard's delight, Red sky in morning, Sheppard's warning. This mixed with the amount of flashbacks this morning, Alex really hoped that the world wasn't trying to tell him something. Alex just shook his head, walked out of his room, and went downstairs.<strong><strong>

Walking into the kitchen, Alex saw Liz Pleasure standing over the stove top, flipping pancakes.

"Morning Liz"  
>Said woman jumped like she had just been stung. She turned and saw Alex sitting down on one of the stools around the kitchen island. She took a deep breath, and smiled at him.<p>

"Morning to you too, and I really wish you wouldn't do that, no-one can hear you when you walk so quietly"

"Sorry"

"No you're not, look at you, grinning, you probably thought that it was funny", she turned back towards the stove, and looked into the pan.

"You made me burn it Alex!"  
>While she was putting the burnt pancake in the dog bowl, Alex reached over, grabbed three pancakes from the serving plate, and drizzled maple syrup over them.<p>

"Put that on a plate"  
>Alex looked up at her. She wasn't even<em> facing him<em>.

"How'd you know?"  
>She turned towards him, smiled, and tapped the side of her nose. That small action reminded Alex of Smithers, MI6's gadget man. Another omen?<br>The thought was interrupted by Sabina coming into the kitchen, and kissing his cheek.

" Well my ride is here, I'll see you at school Alex"

"Mhmm, see you later"  
>She turned to leave, stopping at the front door.<p>

"You don't need a lift to school do you?, your friends aren't the most punctual people on earth"  
>Alex looked at the kitchen clock, Five to Eight.<p>

"Nah, I've still got time"  
>Sabina nodded, grabbed her house keys, and left, the door slamming shut behind her.<p>

Alex knew his friends had arrived when he heard the sound of a car horn being abused, and a loud female voice yelling out,

"Oi Wagon Wheel, get your British butt out here, we're gonna be late!"  
>Alex scoffed. Like that was his fault.<p>

"I'll see you after school Liz "  
>He walked out the door, picking up his bag and keys, and headed to the waiting car.<p>

It was occupied by three people, two girls and a guy. The guy, who was driving, was named Oscar. He was just borderline six foot, curly brown hair, hazel eyes, and currently had a very bored expression on his face. His fraternal twin sister sat next to him. She was the one who yelled out at him. Like her brother, she had curly brown hair, which was in a sloppy ponytail, and hazel eyes. Her name was Alexandria, but she preferred to be called Andi. They were a few months older than him, only just seventeen, they're also really close. Their mum left when they were three, their father raising them on his own. They both worked as mechanics at his shop, even convinced him to hire Alex, and teach him on the job, which Alex was very thankful for. Both of them are very loud, and had no filter between their mind and their mouth, never sugar coated anything which got them in trouble a lot. Alex couldn't look his maths teacher in the eye for a week after Andi had told her 'Just because they come in your size and colour sweetheart, doesn't mean you should wear them' referring to her shorts.  
>It was the contrast of personalities that had caused him to be friends with the twins.<br>They brought him out of his protective shell, and he made sure that they don't get given prison time.  
>Sitting behind Oscar was Eleanor, or Ellie. She was probably the greatest contrast from the rest of the group. She was 5 foot, three, slim with no obvious curves and a pale heart shaped face that still looked quite babyish. She looked about fourteen, but in reality she was older than them all. Her hair, dyed fiery red, was in a spiky pixie cut with a fabric pink flower clipped onto the side. Currently wearing a printed t-shirt, denim shorts, mix matched leggings, and combat boots, she reminded Alex of Luna from Harry Potter. She was the type of person that reads horoscopes every morning, believes in reincarnation, and talks about auras. She is very quirky, but also very perceptive. It is difficult to get things past her, Alex guessed this was because of how open minded she is. Like Alex, before she does anything, she will quickly analysis a situation before becoming involved in it. She tends to seem a bit spacey, but mostly because she broods on everything.<br>Alex had met her a year ago when they were seated next to each other in science. She took one look at him and told him that he had a very dark aura then asked him if he was okay. Five minutes later she asked him why he hid behind so many walls, at this he struck up a conversation with her, by the end of the lesson; they had done no work, but had talked about everything from politics to the amount of paranormal activity in the UK.  
>That same day, during lunch, he saw her being pushed around by a few older boys, because of her small stature; there wasn't much she could do about it. Alex walked right up to them, pulled her protectively behind him and punched out the ring leader. Alex was in detention for a week, but ever since, Alex has been her unbiological 'big' brother. <strong><strong>

Alex slipped into the seat beside her and click in his seat belt.  
>Andi turned round to look at him.<p>

"You took your time Wagon Wheel"  
>Alex raised an eye brow at her.<p>

"You are the ones in the car, I was here waiting for you guys to arrive, so don't put the blame on me Pop Tart"  
>She glared at him, turned around in her seat, and folded her arms. Oscar snickered, and Ellie cracked a small smile for behind the magazine she was reading.<br>Oscar pulled out of the driveway.  
>...Line Break...<p>

"What's your star sign, Alex" Ellie asked as they pulled into the school carpark.  
>Alex looked up at her.<p>

"Um, I don't know, why do you ask?"  
>Oscar parked the car, everyone started to get out. The bell rang.<p>

"For your horoscope, your birthday is February the 13th ae?" she glanced up at him, then continued "Aquarius**, "**The path ahead of you is a difficult one, but remember you can find help where you least expect it", that sounds rather intriguing doesn't it"

Alex scanned the school, even though he didn't believe in that kind of thing, that was something he really didn't want to hear.

"The bell has only _just _rung, where is everyone?" Oscar was also scanning the school it seemed. They were other cars in the car park, so that ruled out the idea of them being the only ones there. Alex spotted a group of teachers heading towards the school hall.

"Head towards the hall that's where they're going" Alex walked away from the car park with the others following him.

When they arrived at the hall entrance, they were hurried in. Apparently an emergency assembly had been called, about what was still unclear to the students, but the teachers seemed on edge and jumpy. Alex found himself scanning everyone in the hall. A habit that he thought had died years ago. He made his way to his seat.

"School please stand"  
>On cue, the entire congregation stood silently, and the Principal travelled up the aisle, followed by men in suits and police uniform.<p>

Red sky in morning, Sheppard's warning.  
>Alex suddenly wished he had stayed in bed.<br>**  
>AN<br>Well that's chapter one, it was getting a bit long, so what is going to be said in the assembly will feature in chapter two.  
>Another thing, Alex's nickname. For those who don't know, a Wagon Wheel is a biscuit type thing you can get in England. It's really good. It being an English treat, Andi calls him Wagon Wheel, and in return he calls her Pop Tart, because Pop Tarts are American.<br>Makes sense, right?  
>Anyway reviews are much loved, and very helpful when it comes to improving and getting motivated to write another chapter.<strong>

**- Jean & Diana  
><strong> 


	3. That Horrible Sinking Feeling

**AN  
>Once again thank you so much for all your reviews, it is really funny because there was this one chic who gave us all this information for chapter one ( not referring to you, Coolio) but they way they explained things, we still had no bloody idea on what they were talking about. On a different note, the ninth of December will be our one year anniversary of being on FanFiction , YAY! Anyways you know how it is, Alex Rider does not belong to us, and if he did I would make him our brother because that would be awesome. However all rights belong to Anthony Horowitz -sigh-<strong>

  
>Chapter Two<br>That Horrible Sinking Feeling

Alex couldn't help but feel ill as the principal made his way to the podium.

"School please sit"  
>Everyone did so, some students sparing glances at their friends, as if they thought they could get an answer from them.<br>The principal cleared his throat.

"You have all been called here because it has recently come to police attention that a newly developed criminal organization has taken a sudden interest in our school"  
>At this the sound of hundreds of students whispering and panicking echoed around the hall.<br>The principal held up his hand. Everything fell quiet once again.  
>Alex felt his sudden need to revisit his pancakes greaten. <p>

"I don't know why this has come about or why it is this school in particular, so that is why, until further notice, police and federal agents will be investigating. Classes will go on as normal. Do not bother the agents, when they ask you a question, answer politely and truthfully, please be fully co-operative. Your families are being informed at this moment. If you wish to be removed for school, we will assign you a tutor. To explain into further about the situation, I introduce to you Detective Cahil Faust, who is a representative for the FBI and is co-leading the investigation".  
>A small, dark haired man made his way up to the podium, Alex was sitting too far from the front to see any detail features. He nodded to the principal as he took his place.<p>

"As your principal just informed you, my name is Detective Faust, and I as well as my co-worker, Detective Evans, will be leading the investigation. Although, at this point in time I can disclose very little information, I can tell you this. The organization in question, despite its recent formation, is aggressive and most of the people involved have come from other former organizations" Alex's stomach was now resting in his throat as one word popped in his mind.  
><em>Scorpia.<br>"Scorpia has been disbanded, Alex, they have become a laughing stock. They will never work again, several of their personnel have been arrested. It's safe to say they will not bother you again." _ Mrs Jones's voice rang in Alex's head. What if it was them? There is no way this could be a coincidence.  
>Detective Faust was still talking, his voice bouncing off the walls.<p>

"If you do notice anything suspicious, do not hesitate to inform one of the operatives here in the school. We will be interviewing you, if we have reason to. It is imperative to the investigation that you are all co-operative and you do not panic. Is there any questions?"  
>Alex swallowed and raised his hand.<p>

"Yes?"  
>Alex stood up and looked at the man on the stage.<p>

"You failed to give us a name"

Detective Faust raised an eyebrow.  
>"Excuse me?"<p>

"What is the name of the organization?" Alex's voice cut through the silence, all eyes on him.

"I cannot disclose that information at this.." Alex cut him off.

"I find that hard to believe" Alex was getting annoyed now, everyone could tell by how his accent thickened. "How are we suppose to offer any assistance if we do not know who is threatening us?"

Faust looked behind him at the other agents, one gave him a nod. He looked back at Alex, something sparking in his eyes, Alex couldn't decipher what from where he was standing.

"Alright, if you believe that it is so important. They call themselves Phoenix."

_Former organizations_

_Phoenix _

Something clicked in Alex's brain, a recognition but then it vanished just as quickly as it arrived.

Alex nodded to the man and took his seat.

"Is there anymore questions?"  
>There probably was, but the room remained silent.<p>

"Very well, you are to go to your second period class, school dismissed"  
>...Line Break...<p>

"Let's face it , we're doomed"  
>It was currently lunch, the voice coming from the boy sitting next to Alex on the grass field.<br>His name was Nathan, he was something of a musician, always carrying around an acoustic guitar, and had a pair of one hundred dollar, sound cancelling headphones hanging around his neck. He was barely taller than Alex, light brown hair and dark eyes. He once dumped his girlfriend because she told him to choose between his guitar or her.  
>Andi glared at him.<p>

"You're such a pessimist, Nathan"  
>Nathan smiled at her.<p>

"I'm an optimistic pessimist"

"You just contradicted yourself"

"No I didn't, it's a real thing. I think we are all gonna die, but I don't think it will be a painful death, maybe like an explosion. Instant kill"  
>Alex winced at the thought as the image of a burning jeep entered his mind. Andi just rolled her eyes.<p>

"Whatever, no point arguing with an idiot"

Oscar took a mouthful of his apple then asked.  
>"So does Phoenix mean anything to you guys?"<p>

Alex shook his head, Nathan started picking at the cords of his guitar.

"A mythical bird of great beauty fabled to live 500 or 600 years in the Arabian wilderness, to burn itself on a funeral pyre, and to rise from its ashes in the freshness of

youth and live through another cycle of years:  
>often an emblem of immortality or of reborn idealism or hope." <p>

Everyone looked at Ellie in disbelief; she hadn't even looked up from her hands.  
>Alex chuckled a little.<br>"Ellie how on earth did you know that?"

Ellie looked up and held out her cellphone, waving it in the air.  
>"Android"<p>

She said it in a tone that clearly said _duh._

Alex looked at the phone then back at her.  
>"Are there anymore definitions on there?"<p>

"Sure"

She looked back at the phone. 

"A southern constellation between Hydrus and Sculptor,a person or thing of  
>peerless beauty or excellence; paragon, or a person or thing that has become renewed or<br>restored after suffering calamity or apparent annihilation"

Nathan stopped picking at cords and looked up, like he just had a sudden thought.

"That last one sounds pretty legit, I mean didn't Faust say that Phoenix was formed by people from former organizations or something like that?"

Alex nodded; the thought that got away from him earlier had made a comeback once again that word popped into his head.

_Scorpia._

Alex sighed.

"I was just thinking the same thing, a former organization, like maybe an organization that was disbanded and is now being restored".

Alex shook his head; he had been mostly talking to himself.

Andi looked at Alex closely.  
>"Hey, are you alright?"<p>

Alex looked up at her.  
>"Hmmm, yeah just thinking"<p>

Ellie studied his face, like she was trying to see something that was hidden from her.  
>"Just thinking, you know something don't you?"<p>

"No more than you, just the name"  
>Oscar grinned at him.<p>

"Yeah and we only know that because of you, that was really ballsy by the way"

"How do you mean?" Alex questioned.  
>Nathan laughed at him.<p>

"He means standing up in front of the whole school and pretty much interrogating the detective, that takes a lot of guts, I still can't believe you actually had the nerve to cut him off like you did...then again you're not exactly a big fan of authority"

It was at that point that Alex realised that he was being watched, his friend's voices faded and became distant as he scanned the surrounding field, his eyes flicked across the few trees in the distance when there... Alex spotted a figure leaning against one of the oaks.  
>Close cropped blonde hair and cold blue eyes.<br>Alex recognised him instantly.

He was looking at the face of Yassen Gregorovich.

**AN  
>Chapter two, done and dusted. Ever get the feeling it's about to get good?<br>By the way, the next update may take longer because we've got family visiting for a couple of days. Don't hesitate to review, because something about reviews make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Many thanks.**

**-Jean & Diana**


	4. Puzzle Pieces

**AN  
>I just love updates, don't you? This chapter was difficult to write, I honestly can't wait to get the information chapters out of the way and get into the action. Once again thank you for all your reviews, you are all amazing. -Diana<br>-Sigh- I hate disclaimers but it must be done, Alex Rider belongs to Horowitz, so please don't sue.**

Chapter Three  
>Puzzle Pieces<p>

Alex didn't want to believe what he was seeing, but right across the field stood Yassen, who didn't even look close to being dead. The assassin's eyes regarding him, and then flicking over Alex's friends like they were something of an annoyance.  
>Maybe to him they were.<br>If Yassen was here to harm him, he wouldn't care who saw as long as he got away quick enough. So the fact that he hadn't done anything hopefully meant that he wasn't here to hurt him. Yassen was waiting, he wanted to talk to Alex alone, but that meant that there was a higher chance of someone else seeing him. Who wouldn't notice Alex being pulled aside by a stranger, after the assembly this morning everyone would be watching.  
>What was so important that he would risk getting seen by the Feds that were hanging around the school?<p>

"Alex are you sure you're all right?"  
>Alex looked over at his friends, the four of them all with the same concerned look on their faces. Despite the years he had known them, he never told them about his past, even to his friends he had always been a mystery and they knew not to ask. However, Alex didn't think that they had seen him act like this before.<br>Alex ran his fingers through his hair and looked back at Yassen.

"I don't know"  
>Ellie followed Alex's line of sight then looked back at Alex.<p>

"Who's that, do you know him?"  
>The five minute bell rang in the distance. Alex sighed.<p>

"Yeah I do, he's a family friend ... I guess" He looked at his friends. "Go to class without me, I'll be in soon and one more thing, don't tell Sabina"  
>Nathan raised an eyebrow.<p>

"I thought he was a family friend"  
>"Not that family, my biological one"<br>Nathan seemed to mouth the word 'oh' and nodded sideways.  
>He stood up and the others followed suit.<p>

"Well then, you go play catch up, but if you're not in class in ten minutes, I'm getting one of the Feds" Nathan grinned "but he's a family friend, it's not like he is gonna kill ya"  
>Alex forced a smile, if only they knew.<p>

"We'll see"  
>Nathan's smile faulted, the others looked at him weirdly, then Nathan's smile returned, he must of decided that Alex was joking.<p>

"Yeah whatever Alex"  
>Alex waited till they were out of sight before he turned to make his way over to Yassen, only to find the said man already standing next to him.<br>Alex jumped and cursed under his breath, Yassen's mouth twitched.

"Language little Alex"  
>Alex glared at him, but he doubted it had any effect on the assassin.<p>

"What are you doing here Yassen? How are you even alive?"  
>Yassen's eyes regarded him again, the blue eyes showed no emotion.<p>

"Not everyone dies from a bullet in the chest Alex, you of all people should know that"  
>Alex started.<p>

"How do you know about that?"

Yassen raised an eyebrow and turned his head, Alex followed where he was looking to see a student eyeing them both.

"Come" Yassen began to walk away. "We've have a lot that we need to talk about, out of sight of prying eyes".  
>...Line Break...<p>

Yassen cut across the field, keeping in the shadows, the boy behind him struggling to keep up with his quick pace. Alex was doing a half walk, half jog in order to stay close.

"Where exactly are we going?"

Yassen turned to face him, causing Alex to suddenly halt to avoid crashing into him.

"Just keep up and keep close, you'll understand in a minute"

Yassen started again, entering a car park, he could almost feel Alex roll his eyes in frustration. Weaving through the many cars, Yassen cursed in Russian.

_Where had he parked again?_

Alex snorted behind him.

"Language Yassen"

Yassen turned his gaze onto him; Alex raised his hands in surrender.

"Smartass, getting a little cocky in your old age, aren't you"

Alex seemed shocked by the response but didn't say anything. It was the truth though, Yassen couldn't help but to think on how much Alex had matured. The last time he had seen him, Alex had only been about 5ft, 4 and looked as if he had been pushed past his breaking point, physically, mentally and emotionally exhausted. His baby features showing stress and emotions well beyond his years.

Of course Yassen's last bombshell about the boy's father hadn't helped. The more Yassen thought about, the more of an idiot he felt, he should have known the truth about John. Hindsight was a marvellous thing and knowing that he had basically sent Alex to his death made him feel worse. He wondered how Alex would take the next bombshell. Looking at the boy now, he could see a new confidence, like he had gone through the worst that life could bring and survived, Yassen knew Alex was uncertain about where he stood with him, despite this Alex's face gave away nothing, standing tall and head high. His baby features gone, a few more months and Alex might even grow taller than Yassen himself, John was taller than he was and Alex had become his mirror image. Even Alex's previous comment reminded Yassen of John, it was probably the only reason why he had responded, for a second it felt like he was bantering with an old friend.

Yassen felt pride rise in his chest, Alex had overcome great odds and despite knowing that the knowledge of his parents still being alive would be a great blow to the boy, Yassen knew Alex could overcome that too. These thoughts had passed through Yassen's mind in a matter of seconds. None of these thoughts showed on his face, leaving Alex completely unaware.

"So... what exactly are you looking for?"

Yassen ignored the boy, frustrated; he reached into his pockets and pulled out his car keys.

Yassen pressed the central locking button on the keychain.

There was a distant _whoop whoop _to the left of them. Yassen could see the brake lights of his Lexus flashing, he moved towards the car. Alex was laughing behind him.

"_Seriously_ ... The great assassin Gregorovich lost his car...wait why do we need to go to your car? I can't exactly miss class".

Yassen leaned against the bonnet of his Lexus and rubbed the bridge of nose with his thumb and forefinger, showing stress for the first time.

Alex sat on the trunk of the car behind him and tried to look Yassen in the face.

"Hey... are you alright?"

Yassen sighed. He looked the boy in front of him. Strange, Alex almost looked worried about him. Yassen stood up properly and brushed the dust off his pants.

"Your parents aren't dead Alex"

It was like he just punched Alex in the face. Alex jumped off the trunk of the neighbouring car like it had just electrocuted him, shock and something akin to horror written across his face.

"What! How can they not be! That's not..."  
>"Possible?" Yassen interrupted. "Alex do you realise that the plane your parents boarded, was a private plane, only meant to carry them?"<p>

Alex nodded, seemingly numb.

"John decided there should be two planes. He arranged the second plane, MI6 never knew about it. The decoy, which was heading to France, is the one that Ash bombed. The other contained your parents, took off an hour later, heading for New York. No-one knew about the second plane, not even your uncle. The only one who died that day was the pilot"

"But if..." Alex stumbled on his words, his voice hollow but his face not giving any emotion away. He took a deep breath, exhaling coming out as a sigh.

"But if nobody knew about this, then how did you find out?"  
>Yassen nodded, he had expected the question.<p>

"I had some business in New York about four months ago".

Yassen felt himself frown a little.

"I was driving past Central Park, when I was certain that I saw your father's face. He was standing outside one of the entrances talking to someone. By the time I managed to pull over he had all ready gone. I wasn't even sure if it was real or not."

Yassen paused and examined Alex's face. His eyes were closed; he was taking deep, steady and controlled breaths. Alex looked up, feeling Yassen's eyes on him; a small smile graced his features and gave a tiny nod.

Yassen nodded back and continued.  
>"About four days later, your father's face was in the New York Times. A Detective named Chase Evans had just solved one of New York's most notorious cold cases. After this I decided to do some investigating of my own".<p>

Yassen took a few steps and opened his back car door; he reached inside to grab the objects on the seat. Alex had also moved, leaning against the open door peering over curiously. Yassen backed up, holding a thick folder and a heavy wooden box; he reached out and shut the door causing Alex to stumble. Yassen raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything.

"It turns out; the man I saw four days earlier was, in fact, your father. He had been talking to one of his informants. About a week ago he was called up for a difficult case here in San Francisco. Yesterday I saw him moving in to a house just a couple of blocks from where we are now".

Alex crossed his arms, head down and eyebrows furrowed.

"Wait you said his name is now Chase Evans. Correct?"

Yassen nodded, he could see the thoughts running across the boy's face. Alex suddenly looked up.

"Hang on, that Detective Cahil Faust guy; he said that he was co-leading the investigation with a Detective Evans. John is going to be investigating my school isn't he?"

It was more of a statement than a question.

Yassen chuckled quietly.  
>"Yes Alex, I believe so"<p>

Alex tilted his head back and groaned.

"Crap! That just makes things complicated doesn't it? Why does this shit always happen to me? What do I do now?"

Yassen handed Alex the folder. Alex frowned and flicked through the pages.

"What is this?"

"It's your father's file; or rather, Chase Evans's file. I couldn't get passed MI6's security, but I did add a few things in there that might be useful. Everything is connected Alex; Phoenix, your school, your father. Everything. Someone is setting this up. Think back to Cairo, MI6 was a puppet on Scorpia's string. Something similar is happening here. Another thing, I never killed your uncle".

Alex made a choking noise.  
>"Are you - serious! Does nobody stay dead anymore? What has Thanatos just decided to take a holiday? If Ian <em>is<em> alive, where is he now?"

Yassen shot a dangerous look at Alex's direction and he quickly silenced.

"Although I was paid to _dispose_" Alex flinched at Yassen's choice of words. "Of your uncle, another organisation paid me three fold the amount Sayle was prepared to pay me, just to hand him over to them. I'm an assassin Alex, I have no loyalties, I only assist those with the highest bid".

Alex's eyes were burning through him.

"If you have no loyalties then why are you helping me?"

Yassen tried to ignore the question, but he felt himself soften a little.

_Damn this kid_.

Yassen let out an inaudible sigh.

"The people who took your uncle also have a connection to Phoenix. He is being held captive somewhere. I don't understand, but somehow he fits into this also".

Yassen handed Alex the wooden box, who took it gingerly, cautiously watching his gaze.

"Open it, Alex".

The boy fumbled with the lid; once opened, Alex's eyes widen considerably, shock clearly playing in them. Yassen could understand why, inside the box were two guns, both fully loaded; also inside the box was extra ammo. The first gun was a Kahr 90, double-action semi-automatic handgun. Unbeknownst to Yassen it was the same make Scorpia had given to Alex when he was ordered to kill Mrs Jones. It was also one of the lightest guns in the world. The second gun, Yassen knew, Alex would recognise. It was a Grach MP-443, almost identical to Yassen's own gun, which Alex had commandeered for a short amount of time on the _Fer de Lance_; the boy had even gone as far as holding it against his head. Yassen almost smiled at the memory. The only difference if anyone looked close enough on Yassen's gun they would see _Y.G _engraved on one side of the handle and on the other was engraved _Cossack_.

The gun Yassen had just given Alex had _J.R_ and _Hunter_ engraved on the handle. Alex frowned slightly.

"This was John's" Alex sighed. "Why are you giving these to me Yassen?"

Yassen moved forward and open the driver's side door, getting ready to part ways.

"Because Alex, it's time for you to do some investigating of your own".

Yassen sat down in the seat and went to shut the door when Alex grabbed it at the top of the frame and pulled it open.

"Wait so you want me involved with this shit?" Alex's tone was sharp.

Yassen stood, half in and half out of the car, one arm resting on the roof.

"No Alex, I'm giving you the option but you need to understand this; you _are_ in danger, whether you're involved or not, you and your family. John was a father figure to me Alex, and I loved him like one but I can't protect the both of you".

Alex snorted.

"So much for having no loyalties, I guess that makes us brothers then".

Yassen felt himself smile; he sat back down in his seat.

"I guess it does, and Alex, don't be afraid to use some of your old contacts. You can find allies in the least likely of places."

Alex blinked like he just had a déjà vu.

"Umm, okay"

Yassen shut the car door and started the car. He then opened the window.

"You should probably be heading to class now, I'll see you later _Младший_ _брат*_".

...Line Break...

Alex watched Yassen drive off, his mind buzzing.

_What exactly just happened?_

Alex shoved the file and the wooden box in his bag, hiding them inside the pocket created by the torn fabric lining.

He made his way back to the school, running across the field. It didn't occur to him that he should be worried about being gone for fifteen minutes. Alex realised something, Yassen had given him the puzzle pieces but it was his job to put them together.

_God! He hated puzzles._

**AN.**

* **Almost 99.90% certain that this means little brother in Russian.**

**Wow, and the plot thickens.**

**Longest chapter yet, sorry about that, can't even write a 300 word essay, what's wrong with that picture. Four days of being on the computer for twelve hours to get this done, Yassen is really hard to write.**

**HOPEFULLY! This makes up for taking forever.**

**So pretty please review because all your reviews are awesome to read and PM us if you want they're cool too.**

**Thanks a million.**

**-Jean & Diana.**


	5. Phoning Home

**AN  
>Sorry for the late update, but you know Christmas tends to be really busy.<br>I was hoping to post this chapter up a couple of days ago. All well, never mind.  
>Anyways, just to clarify something about Alex's parents being alive. We got a review questioning the fact that they were alive, but never contacted Alex. This fact was going to be explained once we got to John's POV, but I think ( I never went over this with Jean, but hey, I'm the one that is currently typing) that we should explain this before that chapter because that is a wee while away.<br>As the previous chapter stated, John arranged the second plane, No-one knew about it, not even MI6. So if Alex would suddenly disappear, someone would bound to notice, then Scorpia would eventually notice. So John and Helen had to leave Alex behind and start their new life without him, hoping that Ian would look after him, thinking in doing this Alex would be safe. This will be explained in deeper detail later in the story but this should suffice until then.  
>- Diana<strong>

Disclaimer: The usual comment in here, I do not own the Alex Rider series because Anthony didn't give me the rights to it for Christmas, and Santa didn't either.

Chapter Four  
>Phoning Home<p>

Sabina was slightly embarrassed about the fact her parents came to pick her and Alex up from school. Usually she would get a ride with one of her friends and Alex would head home with his band of weird and slightly crazy friends. Alex didn't seem too bothered though, he just waved goodbye to the short red headed girl, who he shared last period with, and climbed into the car.

The drive home was quiet, her parents flicking glances towards Alex, who was sitting next to her. To be honest, she was doing the same. The whole idea of a criminal organisation taking an interest in the school flung her right back into the past, when she was taken by Cray. She was wondering how Alex was dealing with the idea of being in that situation again.  
>His face was impassive, eyebrows drawn together that proved that he was lost in thought, just looking at the ground. He was probably aware of the fact everyone was staring, but didn't acknowledge them.<br>Sabina really hoped that Alex wouldn't do anything stupid.  
>But, somehow she knew that hoping was useless. Alex was born with an over developed hero complex; she would just have to make sure he doesn't take the investigation into his own hands.<p>

She heard from one of her friends that Alex turned up fifteen minutes late to one of his classes today. He told the teacher that he had been talking to a family friend. Sabina would have to question him later.

They pulled into the drive way and everyone got out of the car and made their way inside.

The silence was piercing.

It stayed that way for the rest of the evening apart from the heavy, hushed conversation that her parents were having; no one really said a word.

It wasn't until they were at the dinner table that the silence was finally broken.

Her father cleared his throat; he shared a look with her mother, who gave a tiny nod of encouragement.

"Liz and I have been talking"

"No shit" Alex muttered into his dinner plate, Sabina turned her head to give him a stern look but Alex looked up to meet her gaze and then raised an eyebrow.

_God! He can be such a brat!_

Her father gave them both a sharp look.

"As I was saying before I was rudely interrupted" He glanced in Alex's direction, who was calmly stabbing at a piece of potato with his fork.

"We were wanting to ask you if you wanted to be pulled from school...temporarily of course, until all of this is over"

"_No"_Alex said in a sharp tone that she didn't think any of them had heard before.

Alex looked up from the table, his meal quickly forgotten. His eyes so dark that they seemed colourless. Sabina and her parents were too stunned to say anything, so they waited for him to continue.

"We don't know how long this investigation is gonna take, I understand that you want to keep us safe, But I'm not going to let some stupid criminal organization stop me from going to school, not again"

It was obvious that he was hiding something, Sabina felt the frustration balloon up inside her; she had enough of this shit with him.

She abruptly stood from the table glaring at Alex.

"_Sabina"_ She could clearly hear the warning in her mother's voice but at this point Sabina didn't care.

"You know what, I don't think that's it; that's not the real reason you want to stay is it Alex?"

Alex blinked, seemingly confused.

"What do you mean?"

"Oh, so that family friend that you were talking to today has nothing to do with you wanting to stay?"

Her father looked between the two, trying to read their facial expressions.

"What is she talking about Alex?"

Alex ignored the question; he had risen from his chair, his eyes focused on Sabina, making her feel unnerved.

"How do you know about that?" his voice was quiet but laced with anger.

Alex's voice mixed with the way he was standing, fists clenched, on the balls of his feet, made Sabina want to back down but she knew if she did, she would never find out what was going on.

"You were fifteen minutes late to class Alex, everyone in school knows"  
>She paused, trying to read him. He was still in defensive mode, which brought round her next question,<p>

"Who came to visit you?"

Alex visibly relaxed, as if her not knowing who the visitor was, was somehow reassuring.  
>This unnerved her even more.<p>

"Someone my dad knew"  
><em><br>Why was he being so evasive?_

"

Do I know him?"

His eyes scanned over her, like he was trying to work out his next move, he wanted her to get off his case without revealing too much.  
>Sabina wondered how he would react if she told him to stop acting like a spy.<p>

"_Enough!" _Her father looked furious, his eyes flicked between her and Alex as if trying to work out who to lecture first. Her mother seemed to have taken an interest in the fraying table cloth, she never like confrontation.

"Who visited you today Alex?"

Alex looked down, he clearly did not like the situation he had found himself in.

"Just someone my dad used to work with, he is currently working behind the scenes of the investigation at the school, he just wanted to give me a heads up on who the organisation is connected with"

Her father seemed to think on this a bit, Alex's family was a difficult topic because there was so much secrecy surrounding them.

"Have we met him?"

Alex looked her father in the eyes.

"No, you've never meet him"

Something about that sentence bothered her. The way Alex said it. _You've never met him. _It wasn't the royal you, Alex just seemed to mean that her dad has never met him.

_What about her? Has she met him before?_

Sabina couldn't really think of any _family friends_ of Alex's that she would've met before.  
>Who were still alive.<br>Maybe she was just over thinking things, but she still felt anxious.

"And are you sure you want to stay in school?"

Alex nodded.

"What about you Sabina? Do you want to stay?"

_Did she?  
><em>No she didn't. She didn't want any part in this.

"No, I'm gonna keep my contact with criminal organisation's to a minimum, thank you very much"

She heard Alex stifle a laugh. She sent a glare his way, then turned back to her dad.

"Okay I'll contact the school tomorrow and get everything sorted"_  
><em>  
>Alex looked down at his dinner, which had gone cold.<p>

"I'm no longer hungry; I'll be in my room if you need me"

With that he left the dining room and went upstairs, with a brown Labrador trailing behind him; leaving behind a heavy silence.

...Line Break...

Alex got to the top of the stairs and let out a sigh of relief.

Way to close

He lent against the wall, closed his eyes and try to think of his next move.  
>Should he do as Yassen suggested? Take the investigation into his own hands?<p>

_Thump, Thump, Thump_

Alex opened his eyes. Brax was staring at him, his tail wagging hitting the wall.  
>"You're such an idiot, mutt"<p>

Brax cocked his head to one side and his tongue rolled out of his mouth.

"Come on Brax, let's do some investigating"

Alex grabbed the folder from his school bag and went into the study. He looked at the front of the folder.

**TOP SECRET**_  
><em>_**WARNING: IT IS AN OFFENCE TO BREAK THIS SEAL WITHOUT FULL AUTHORIZATION!**_

__Alex shrugged.

"Meh"

He tore open the seal and spread the pages out in front of him. He scanned the pages and printed them. He gathered up the originals and put them back into the folder.  
>He then grabbed the other pages, still warm from just being printed, and walked into his room.<br>Alex put the folder into his workbag and laid out the others on his bed.  
>Looking over them he knew this was not going to be easy. He looked at the clock beside his bed. 6:30 pm. That means it would be two o'clock in the morning in England. He knew one person who would still be online.<br>Alex logged into Skype on his laptop. He smiled when he saw that he was correct. He selected the right address and clicked the call button.

_Calling...  
>Tom Harris<em>

After a minute the call was accepted. The image of a tired but smiling Tom Harris filled his screen.

"Alex!" That was probably the loudest whisper Alex had ever heard.

"Hey Tom, how ya been?"

Tom nodded and lent back into his computer chair.

"I'm good, but I'm slightly insulted, I haven't heard from you in _ages"_

Alex gave his friend a bland look,

"I call you every Friday, Tom"

"It's Saturday"

He gave Tom a half hearted glare, Tom just smirked back at him.

"Oh shut up, It's still Friday here, I just called you a few hours later than I normally would,"  
>Alex paused wondering how much he should tell Tom, he looked at the pages spread out on his bed behind him.<p>

"Alex, you alright?"

Alex looked back at the screen, he sighed.

"Don't really know, I've had a very full on day"  
>Tom sat up in his computer chair and crossed his legs.<p>

"Oh do tell" He grabbed a box of Jaffa Cakes from somewhere out of Alex's view and started munching on them.

Not only was he acting like a little kid waiting for bedtime story, but he just so happened to be eating Alex's favourite English treats right in front of him, something you couldn't even buy in the US.

Alex glared at him. Tom looked at him confused then looked at the box. Comprehension dawned on his face. He smirked.

"Don't be a hater Alex, and tell me what happened"

Alex ran his hand through his hair and then sighed,

"Where do I start?"

"The beginning preferably"

"Shut up and listen"

Tom raised his hands in surrender, and then stuffed another Jaffa Cake in his mouth.

Alex slouched down into his chair and rested his feet on Brax's back, who was hiding under the desk.

"Well this morning, a emergency assembly was called to let everyone know that the FBI was going to be investigating the school because a criminal organisation by the name of Phoenix had taken an interest in the school,"

Tom opened his mouth, about to say something but Alex put his hand up,

"Not done yet" He took a breath.

"Then during interval," Alex looked at his closed bedroom door, he lowered his voice,

"Yassen came to visit me"

Tom's eyes went wide,  
>"What? Yassen the Assassin? Yassen the <em>Dead <em>Assassin that your dad trained?"

Alex nodded.

"Yeah except he isn't dead, he came to talk to me"

"'Bout what?"

Alex looked at his friend; Tom was still stuffing his face.

"That my parents aren't dead"

The result of that sentence was incredible. Tom started coughing on Jaffa crumbs, his eyes watering. Alex had to hold back laughter despite of the situation.  
>Tom finally recovered after a minute.<p>

"So, the not dead assassin came to your school, which is currently being investigated by the FBI because of some criminal organisation, to tell you that your long dead parents, are not dead?"

Alex smirked,

"Yep, but not just that though"

"What? Did he tell you that Ian is alive too?" Tom's tone was completely sarcastic but he looked startled when Alex made a face at the comment.

"You've got to be pulling my leg, are you serious?"

Alex just nodded.  
>Tom ran his hand through his hair and slouched.<p>

"Shit, then how... Shit. So where is he?"

"Ian? He is currently being held captive, only God knows where"

"What about your parents? Where they at?"

Alex laughed bitterly.  
>"Actually they have just moved to San Francisco"<p>

Tom's eyebrows furrowed

"So Yassen told you that huh?"

"Yep and guess what that's not even the worst part"

"What? It gets worse? How the hell does it get worse?"

Alex spun his chair round, grabbed the papers off his bed then swung back round to Tom.

"Well," Alex shuffled the pages back into chronological order, "according to a file Yassen gave me, my parents now go by the names, Chase and Anastasia Evans. They have two kids,"

Tom winced, Alex understood why, he also didn't like the idea of siblings that got to be raised by his parents while he had been left at home with a nanny up to the age of seven because Ian was working.

"Who are called Marcus Alexander and Aiden Alessa, Marcus is fifteen years old, will turn sixteen on the twentieth of May. Aiden is thirteen; her birthday was a week ago, on the third"

Tom snorted; he lent back in his chair and crossed his arms.

"Well then you should buy her a late birthday present, doubt she would mind"

Alex laughed.

"Daddy Dearest might though, imagine that, a wrapped late birthday present turning up for your daughter signed by your eldest son who you think lives in England and also thinks you are dead"

They looked at each and started laughing.

"You so should do that Alex, just stick around in hiding long enough to see his face"

Alex withheld another laugh, only Tom could make a situation like this into something to laugh at.

"I wouldn't need to because Mister Chase Evans is a detective for the FBI, and guess what case he is currently running"

Alex didn't think Tom's eyes could've gotten wider, but they managed to.

"Are you serious? Your dad is going to be leading the investigation at your school, well that is gonna be... interesting. How you going to work round that?"

Alex thought for a moment.

"Well remember that time your brother was in the pub at the same time as the Chelsea team and he didn't even notice till they left 'cos someone mentioned it to him?"

Tom nodded,

"Yeah..."

"Hopefully if I keep my head down and stay out of his way, he won't see me there because he doesn't expect me to be there also in the school system my surname is Pleasure _not_Rider, so might not even pick up on it"

Tom digested this, then nodded again.

"That might work, apart from the fact you look exactly like him and trouble likes to slap you in the face"

Alex sighed,

"I did say hopefully, I just hope he stays out of the way long enough for me found out where Ian is being kept"

A horrified look appeared on Tom's face.

"You are going to look for him? Shouldn't you just go tell the CIA or something"

"I can't. Yassen said that everything that is happening right now is connected and the only thing that I can think of that is connecting it is the fact my family seems to be involved.  
>I go to the school that is being investigated by my dad, Phoenix is a newly established organisation that came from the ruins of Scorpia, I'm guessing; I mean it makes sense, an organisation that I disbanded"<p>

Tom looked a little confused.

"Where does Ian come into the equation?"

"I think Phoenix may have him captive somewhere, that's the only way he could be connected to this"

Tom rubbed his eyes, while talking to him Alex had forgotten it was nearly three in the morning for him.

"I think you might be right, but don't anything stupid, this is so really deep and complicated shit that is going on and I really think you should get one of your high profile military friends to deal with it,"

Tom seemed to scan his face, trying to work out what Alex was planning.

"But I'm guessing with everything being linked that you don't want them involved because you don't want them to find out 'bout your dad"

Alex nodded.

"Thought so, your protective ways are becoming predictable Alex" He yawned and seemed to look at something behind him.

"Anyways I am exhausted so I'm gonna go to bed, call me during the week for any development in your currently shitty situation, night"

"Night Tom" Alex waved then his screen went black. He closed the Skype window, turned off the laptop and shut the lid.

He looked at the papers again. Alex knew he should probably do homework but to him this was more important. He reread the information on his siblings then threw down the papers onto his bed.

He wondered what they were like, if he had anything in common with them. Alex remembered in Biology, his teacher talking about Genetics and nature over nurture.

How much of Alex's personality was because of the way Ian had raised him?

Would they have called him a good big brother, if he had the chance to grow up with them?

He thought about what Tom said, about sending his sister a birthday present. He didn't have to sign it.

Alex's eyes flicked to his bedside table. He opened the draw and pulled out a locket.  
>It was shaped like a love heart, made of silver, in the middle of the heart was an indention shaped like a keyhole. A key shaped charm hung next to it.<p>

The locket belonged to Jack; Alex had bought it for her for Christmas when he was ten. He had saved up his pocket money for three months to afford it.

He wrapped the chain around his hand, walked back into the study across the hall and grabbed an envelope. Alex removed the picture from the locket and sealed it in the envelope along with a simple note wishing Aiden a happy late birthday.  
>He wrote her name on the front and stuck it in his pocket. Their address was among the information Yassen had given him.<p>

Alex went downstairs and snuck out the front door. The sun had set about a half hour ago, the darkness would provide Alex with the perfect cloak, he should be able to post this in their letterbox without being seen. It was a bit of a walk but the exercise wouldn't hurt.

With that he set off into the darkness.

**An**  
><strong>This was supposed to be updated before New Years, hehe whoops.<br>Not so sure about the argument, it's a little lacking in ... something.  
>The part about sending his sister a present was totally impulsive and was not in the original plan but I hope it works.<br>Don't you think Harris is just awesome? I do, you read the series and he is just so loyal to Alex, it's really cool. Everyone should have a friend who would throw 'round fireworks and sing at the top of their lungs so you can gatecrash a party.  
>Love to know what you think so please review.<br>Next chapter should be up in a day or two, nearly finished it.  
>-Diana<strong>


	6. Hidden Demons

**An  
>Okay so this was supposed to be uploaded the same time as Phoning Home,<br>but we didn't want to keep you guys waiting until we finished this chapter so you could read both.  
>Once again thanks for all your reviews and don't despair, Tom will make a reappearance later in the story.<br>Alex Rider does not belong to me, consider him disclaimed. :D  
>- Diana<strong>

Chapter Five  
>Hidden Demons<p>

_John's nightmare started as it normally would. With the sound of a baby crying as he was leaving his Chelsea home, suitcase in hand.  
>He turned towards the source of the noise to see a young boy, about three months of age, propped up against the back of the sofa. His red-rimmed brown eyes, slightly covered by wispy, fair hair, were locked onto him. Pudgy hands reaching out, begging John not to leave.<br>Instead of going towards the child, like he desperately wanted, he made his way to the front door, where his younger brother, Ian, was waiting.  
>With each step the wailing grew louder, but still John was unable to turn.<em>

_"Don't worry," his mind told him "Ian will take care of him"._

_John was on the doorstep now, the entrance closed to him, he couldn't go back inside.  
>The sound of a child's cry changed into a scream of pure terror. John looked into the window. Ian, who was sitting on the couch, vanished before his very eyes and the sofa the boy was leaning on crumbled to pieces. As the pieces hit the ground, they morphed into black, ugly scorpions and started smothering the child.<br>John bashed at the window, screaming at the top of his lungs, but he could only watch as the boy's screams were muffled by the swarm.  
>Normally, at this point, John would wake up.<br>Instead he felt a presence appear beside him. John turned to see Ash, looking at him grimly._

_"You're too late John, don't think for a second you can save him"  
>Ash's face broke into a sadistic grin.<br>" And don't think you can save yourself either"._

_His best friend pulled a gun out from his waistband and fired, he shot John in the chest, the bullet hitting him only centimetres from the heart.  
>The scene changed as John hit the ground. He was now on the pavement, outside a familiar looking 'bank'.<br>Panic built up inside of him as a crowd gathered and the pool of blood grew.  
>A teenager of about sixteen years knelt beside him, his brown eyes full of pity and understanding. He placed his hand over John's wound, as if to stop the blood loss.<br>The teen smiled at him, eyes sad._

_"Don't worry John, everything will be okay"  
>He withdrew his blood covered hand and John caught a glimpse of a black scorpion tattooed on his wrist.<em>

John jolted awake, gasping for his breath, covered in a layer of sweat.  
>He sat up and ran his shaking hand through his damp hair.<br>John shut his eyes, trying to steady his breathing. It had been at least a year since he had last dreamed of the crying child, but the last part was completely new.  
>Why had the dream resurfaced itself now?<br>He knew who the child was, of course he did.  
>Not a day had passed that John had not thought about him.<br>Alexander Rider.  
>John's eldest son.<br>He opened his eyes and looked across the bed to see Helen sleeping peacefully, unaware of her husband's torment. She had long ago learnt to sleep through his nightmares, no matter how violent.  
>John drew in another deep shaky breath, rose from his bed and made his way to the bedroom's ensuite.<br>He went over to the sink and turned on the faucet. He splashed freezing water on his face to wake himself up. John rested his hands on the side of the sink, shut his eyes and listened to the trickling of water.  
>The last part of his dream was really bothering him. Logically dreams are created by past actions, memories, fears and regrets. John has never been shot in the chest before nor has he been shot outside the Royal and General and that teenager. The more he thought about the boy the less he could remember what he looked like or the sound of his voice, the only thing that stayed in his mind was brown eyes and the scorpion tattoo.<br>John has never met anyone with that tattoo on their wrist so how the hell could he dream that up?  
>He heard the alarm go off in the next room and the sound of his wife stirring but he just ignored it.<br>Light footsteps entered the ensuite and stopped.

"Chase, how long have you been up?"

He didn't respond.  
>She walked closer to him and rested her hand on his shoulder.<br>"Chase?"

She sighed at her husband's lack of response; she had seen him do it before. She wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her head against his back.

"You had that dream again, didn't you John?"

John opened his eyes and looked at her when she said his real name. Her bright blue eyes were shining with concern. He gave her a small nod.

"I thought so, you don't need to worry, he is probably in class now waiting for the end of school bell so he doesn't have to listen to his boring teacher"*

John looked at her; confusion probably written across his face.

"It's Monday?"

She giggled at him.

"Yes Monday the 16th all day"

John made a disgusted noise in the back of his throat and turned back towards the mirror.

"I have to work with that idiot"

Helen laughed and nudged him in the back.

"Cahil isn't that bad"

He shot his wife with a bland look.

"The man is a moron; he is too full of himself, too proud"

"Well, you should get ready then, I'll go wake the kids and make a big breakfast"

She kissed him on the cheek, and walked out of the room; each step bouncing.  
>If there was anything bad he could say about that woman, she was way too happy in the morning.<p>

He stripped down and washed himself off in the shower. He put on a grey shirt, dark jeans and a black jacket. Personally John loved his jacket; it was in his opinion the best thing he had ever bought. It turned no matter what he was wearing into a semi-professional work outfit. He hated wearing anything remotely close to fancy dress; he never told Helen why but it made him feel like James Bond. He hated that connection.

The sweet smell of waffles seemed to make its way in the bedroom; John took that as his cue to join the rest of the family downstairs.

Everyone seemed to have congregated in the kitchen around the counter.  
>Marcus was scoffing down waffles at the same as trying talk while Aiden was fiddling with a necklace that John had never seen before.<br>The two of them took after Helen in their appearance, there might be a bit of him in Aiden's cheekbones or in Marcus's jaw but that was pretty much it. Both had her bright blue eyes, they both had fair hair, though it was difficult to work out who they got that from seeing as Helen and John were fair haired.  
>He remembered that day when he first saw Alex, even though he was just a baby it wasn't difficult to see who he took after. The deep brown eyes were a dead giveaway.<p>

"Morning Dad"  
>John plastered a smile on his face in hope that the kids couldn't see how unnerved he was this morning. He walked over to Marcus and tapped the bottom of his jaw.<p>

"Finish your mouthful, then talk,"

Marcus just shrugged. John looked over to Aiden who was still fiddling with the necklace. It must have been a locket as she seemed to be trying to open the charm.

"Where did you get that?"

"It's a birthday present"  
>She didn't look up from her task.<p>

"From who?"

Marcus swallowed loudly.

"She doesn't know, it came in the mail. Unsigned"

John whipped his head back round to look at her.

"_What?"  
><em>  
>Aiden looked at Marcus like he was stupid.<p>

"Didn't need to be signed. My friend Ashley gave it to me at her sleepover. I left it behind by accident, so I texted her our new address so she could send it."

Marcus gave her an incredulous look then it changed to a sly smile.

"Looks rather expensive don't you think Dad, do you think that we should believe that _Ashley _would be able to afford that"

Aiden put in her rebuttal before John could make a comment.

"She got it from a pawn shop, it barely cost her anything." She looked at him and held the necklace out to him.

"Please can you open it Dad, I haven't got long enough nails to do it"

Helen laughed as she loaded up the serving plate with more waffles.

"Maybe if you didn't bite them, you would be able to open it"

John took the necklace out of her hand. Aiden then examined her chewed nails.

"What happened to that nail polish we gave you to stop you biting them?"

Aiden gagged.

"It tasted nasty, so I removed it"

John got the necklace open, it was empty. He shut it again then walked over to Aiden and put it on her.

"It was suppose to taste nasty, that's how it makes you stop biting"

Aiden laughed.

"Didn't work did it"

John laughed then looked at the time and swore loudly.

"Chase! Language!" Helen reprimanded  
>"Sue me"<p>

He ran back up the stairs to his ensuite to brush his teeth then ran back downstairs, jumping the last four steps. He yelled a goodbye as he grabbed his keys.

He got into his car, ignited the engine and pulled out of the driveway at the same time as putting on his seat belt.  
>His stomach growled. He forgot breakfast.<p>

...Line Break...

Nobody looked at John twice while he was eating a blueberry muffin during the brief, which was held in the staff room.  
>He just let Faust do the talking while he finished his breakfast.<p>

Faust approached him afterwards though.

"Detective Evans, please don't eat during the brief again, it's very disrespectful"

John put his muffin wrapper in the bin and picked up the map of the school, he turned towards Faust.

"Not as disrespectful as arriving half –way through the brief because I decided to eat at home. It won't happen again."

He had to admit it was hard to take Faust seriously. The man was at least two heads shorter than John but had this attitude that made you think he has a stick up his ass that also seemed a little childish. John was tempted to put him in the naughty corner until he behaved better.

Faust shook his head.

"It better not. We need to go to the hall, there is a child I would like to talk to, we can catch him as soon as the assembly ends"

John gave him a side-ways look.

"An interrogation, already?"

"Not an interrogation, I just wish to talk to him. I get the feeling if there was something going on in the school he would be the only one to say anything, if asked"

A sudden thought flashed through John's mind.

"This wouldn't be that kid, who showed you up in the middle of that assembly, would it?"

Faust grabbed his badge and his gun. He turned back round to look at him.

"That kid, stood up in front of over a thousand other students, teachers, and the FBI, to question and argue with me. I just think we should talk to him"

John thought about this for a moment.

"Fine, if you think it's necessary, couldn't hurt"

The two of them of the left the staff room and navigated their way through the school in silence until they found themselves in front of the assembly hall. The school bell rang in the distance. Teenagers started filing out of the hall; Faust was looking at the faces trying to see the boy he was looking for.

"Mister Pleasure, could we have a word with you"

A group of teens stopped, they were probably in junior year, a tall blonde looked over to where John was standing, he then said something to the others and they walked off without him, occasionally looking back.

The blonde headed towards them, John got to see the boy's face clearly. He nearly stopped breathing.

The boy's features were sharp, high cheek bones and an angler nose. His hair was fairly long, nearly getting the boy in the eyes. The boy's dark, brown eyes were closed off but they were flicking between him and Faust. He was probably maybe a few inches shorter than John himself. Physically he was thin but well built, more for speed and agility than brute strength.  
>Looking at him John could tell that puberty was pretty much finished with him, he was closer to the man he was going to be than the boy he once was.<p>

Looking at him, John instantly knew that his demons had finally come back to haunt him.  
>As John had predicted, the baby he once knew turned into his spitting image.<p>

The teen stopped in front of them, gave John a wary, knowing look; that told him that he knew who John was.  
>He stood defensively, with his arms crossed.<p>

"How can I be of service?"

Alex Rider questioned, a smirk appearing on his face.

**An  
>Argh, so many things I missed that were supposed to be in this chapter.<br>I'll just state them here. There is 14 months between Alex and Marcus, John and Helen left England when Alex was three months old. Marcus is ADHD, I put this in because in The Mission Files it states that Alex is suspected for ADHD just never been tested, he is also a nail biter, a trait that Aiden also possesses. Aiden is also quite manipulative but that tends to go unseen by the fact she is also charismatic. Really, I just grabbed a few traits that Alex has, magnified them and placed them in his siblings.**

*** This part is referring to Alex, I didn't think it needed to be pointed out but Jean insisted.**

**John's dream, I dreamed then an aftershock woke me up so I wrote it down, it was like two o'clock at the time so that is why it seems a little weird.**

**Also I think I should stop saying I'll update in a couple of days 'cause I always miss the deadline, which I apologize for.  
>So you know what I'll say this instead, I will update when I finish the next chapter, which I haven't started yet. But if I don't update in the next two weeks you have full permission to PM me and tell me to hurry the F up. This chapter seems a little disjointed if you ask me.<strong>

**Reviews are very welcome and kinda needed for improvement of the story.**

**-Diana**


	7. Elephant in the Room

**An.  
>Sorry to leave you all in suspense, it's been a rather busy week full of birthdays and NCEA exam results (which is NZ school qualifications ), yeah I failed year 11 but Jean didn't. I would like to say I only failed because I missed a lot of school due to illness.<br>Anyways, just need to let you guys know that the amount of updates will be even less frequent after the 30****th**** because that's when the school year starts.  
>Let's just start chapter six, shall we?<strong>

Disclaimer: Alex Rider does not belong to me.

_"__**Elephant in the room**__" is an __English __metaphorical __idiom __for an obvious truth that is being ignored or goes unaddressed. The idiomatic expression also applies to an obvious problem or risk no one wants to discuss. _

_It is based on the idea that an __elephant __in a room would be impossible to overlook; thus, people in the room who pretend the elephant is not there have chosen to avoid dealing with the looming big issue_.

Chapter Six  
>Elephant in the Room<p>

For the second time that morning, John found that he had to let Faust do the talking.  
>His mind could not process the situation that he had found himself in but standing right in front of him, with barely any height difference, was his eldest son; it was as if his own thoughts had summoned him.<br>In all honesty, John was expecting to be decked.

_Maybe that's why he is keeping his arms folded.  
><em>  
>John found himself examining Alex again, drinking in every detail. There were bags under his eyes which were probably due to school. His face was covered in pale scars, barely visible. His accent was clearly British, but there was something else in his voice, John guessed that he was bilingual, probably travelled a lot at a young age, giving him a strange lilt to his words.<br>Something was really bothering him though.  
>Alex stood with a confidence that you just didn't see with teenagers. It wasn't cocky; it was more like he was ready to accept any challenge life threw at him, that no matter what <em>he <em>was in control. Also despite the fact he just came face to face to his apparently deceased father, he stood there completely at ease, smirking, his eyes gave away no emotion.  
>Years as a teenager are some of the most angsty and emotional years in someone's life, yet Alex was completely closed off, he showed nothing.<br>This really disturbed him.  
>Faust cleared his throat.<p>

"Mister Pleasure, we would like to ask you some questions".

...Line Break...

Despite the current circumstances, Alex couldn't help to feel strangely giddy at seeing his father in the flesh, or at least that was one of the many feelings flowing through him.

Years from now, Alex knew he still wouldn't be able to describe how he felt.

Resentment, irritation, anger, happiness.

God just pick one.

Alex could see by his father's face that John knew who he was.

How was he supposed to explain to Tom that his plan to go unnoticed hadn't even lasted an hour.

Detective Faust cleared his throat.

"Mister Pleasure, we would like to ask you some questions".

"Rider" Alex found himself correcting, in the corner of his eye he could see John give a small smile which vanished as quickly as it had showed.

Alex decided to accept that as a challenge to see who would cave first and fully acknowledge the other.

Faust frowned.

"Your records say Pleasure"

So they had been through his records, dually noted.

"That's for legal reasons, my surname is Rider"

Faust somewhat scoffed at him and poorly tried to hide it.  
>"Alright" His voice was laced with impatience. "Mister Rider".<p>

Alex smirked and held out a hand.  
>"Please call me Alex, I hate formalities"<p>

John coughed, Alex look him in the face to see he was actually covering a laugh.

Faust shook Alex's hand.  
>"Charming"<p>

Alex let himself smile at the pompous little man.

"I do try"

Faust clearing was becoming annoyed with him. All well, never mind. For Alex respect was a mutual thing. Faust clearly thought little of him, Alex noticed this before the man had said anything; he did not respect Alex so Alex wouldn't show him any.

Removing the scowl from his face, Faust motion to John.  
>"This is my partner, Detective Chase Evans"<p>

"I guessed as much" Alex muttered.

John held out his hand, Alex took it and shook it hard, not so accidently crushing his fingers.

"Nice to finally meet you".

John nodded, but a flash of guilt quickly crossed his face, which funnily enough made Alex feel guilty for making him feel guilty. In turn also making Alex angry at himself.

John let go of Alex's hand and subtlety flexed his hand a little.

"So, do you guys mind walking and talking, I have to go to class"

"Well actually..."  
>John cut off Faust with a sharp look that Alex felt familiar with. He had probably given Tom that look multiple times but John's held more hostility. Alex figured he wasn't the only one that didn't like the little man.<p>

"Of course not, lead the way"

John had an American accent Alex noticed, probably faked, possibly not.

Alex nodded and headed down the east corridor towards the science wing, the two detectives keeping pace with him.

"So why did you want to talk with me anyways?"

"We figured you would be the best person to talk to after your little performance in the assembly"  
>Alex could've sworn he heard amusement in John's voice and the man gave him a somewhat appraising look.<p>

"What, so because I have issues with authority, I'm the best person to talk to?"

John smirked a little.

"Naturally, obviously you're not intimidated by our presence"

Alex returned the smirk; he could feel that Faust was studying the both of them intently.

"Honestly, that's because you're not intimidating in the slightest. Especially Short Stuff over there" Alex stuck his thumb out towards Faust.

John chuckled while Faust gave an outraged cry.

"You need to show some respect!"

Alex shot him a sharp look, Faust looked dumbfounded by it. Alex didn't dwell on it, completely oblivious that it was the same look he had received from John moments before.

"Respect is earned Detective, _not _demanded"

"So is there any specific reason you wanted to stay in school Alex?" John seemed eager to change the subject.

Alex thought on how to answer this.

"I'm not going to let some pathetic organisation stop me from going to school"  
>Alex did his best to ignore John's curious look.<p>

Faust again looked affronted.

"Listen child, Phoenix isn't some _pathetic _organisation. They are all trained killers who would shoot without hesitation; this isn't some Saturday kid's program"

Alex snarled and turned to face him, both men suddenly stopped.

"Don't you think I know that! I'm not an idiot...or a child; if you stopped treating me like one I might actually respect you a little bit"

Alex was fully aware of the coldness of his tone.

Faust was staring at him, wide eyed, Alex refused to look John in the face, he was actually afraid of what he might see there.

"Call me a child again and I might have to break something and yes, they are pathetic, targeting a school, what worth do they have here."

Alex closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"Well, I'm sorry gentlemen that I can't be of more help, but I'll be sure to get back to you if anything comes up that I believe to be relevant"

Alex turned to walk away.

"Wait" John placed a hand on Alex's shoulder, Alex moved back a little to remove it.

John pulled out a card and handed it to him. Alex examined it; it had a cell and home phone number on it.

"Contact me, if you find anything of _relevance_"

Alex nodded.

"Yeah okay" He pocketed the card, it wasn't as if he could say '_Nah it's okay, Yassen gave me your numbers last week'_

This time Alex did walk away, trying not to run and trying not to look back.

He entered his science room, muttering an apology to the teacher and took the seat next to Ellie, who was staring at him.

"Are you okay?" She whispered.

"Fine"

Ellie scowled.

"No your no..."

"I'm fine Ellie" Alex knew he shouldn't take his wave of emotions out on Ellie, but right now he needed a victim.  
>Ellie glared at him.<br>"You have a very negative aura today, did you know that Alex".

That was Ellie's version of an insult, Alex felt himself sigh, feeling suddenly drained.

It was going to be a long day.

...Line Break...

John was resting in a stunned silence.

Faust was glaring at him not that he really cared. He had finally had a conversation with Alex, who at first seemed to be a confident, pleasant, young man then when Faust had confronted him on his comment about Phoenix, it was like they had flicked a switch.  
>Alex changed into something that John was quite wary of.<p>

Cold and calculating, the very air around him seemed to become menacing. He looked at Faust like _he _was the ignorant child. Not that John argued with the fact.

But there was suddenly something about Alex that John feared.

The realisation that Alex could potentially be quite deadly if pushed and should never be underestimated greatly disturbed him.

What had happened to his son? What could've made him into something to be feared?

The possibilities disturbed John even further.

"What was that back there!" Faust growled.

John didn't even flinch or turn to look at him.

"What part?" He said, deadpanned.

Faust scoffed at him, a habit of his, John realised.

"You know what, that _child_ should have never been allowed to disrespect me, while we're working together, you should've put him in his place!"

This time John did turn around to look at him.

"He's not a child, you can see that by looking at him and you shouldn't have allowed yourself to come across as someone who can be disrespected"

Faust growled at him again, he was about to say something when he was interrupted by a small female voice behind them.

"Excuse me"

They both turned to see a young student, judging by her demeanour she was probably a freshman. Her glance kept switching between them, she was obviously quite intimidated which John found amusing considering Alex's previous comment.

"Yes?" You could still hear the irritation in Faust's voice. The poor girl looked like she wanted to shrink.

John shot him a glare, and then gave the girl a kind smile.

"What is it?"

She looked at the classroom door that Alex had just entered, then looked back at John.

"Umm, well I think you should know something, about the boy you were just talking to"

Faust suddenly looked interested, John however felt a little ill.  
>He nodded at her.<p>

"Go ahead"

"Umm, on Friday, during lunch a man came to see him; he led Alex away when he saw me staring like they didn't want to be seen or overheard. And he looked kinda shady, always sticking to the shadows"

Faust was beaming, like he finally had a reason not to trust Alex.

"Did you get to see what he looked like? Did they seem to know each other well? Did you talk to Alex about it?"

She blushed, hiding behind her hair.

"No, he's a junior, I can't exactly go up and talk to him"  
>John highly doubted that was the reason.<p>

"I didn't really see the man's face but he was tall, not quite as tall as you" nodding in John's direction.

"But he was taller than Alex, umm blonde I think but his hair was short so I couldn't really tell from the shadows. He looked, I don't know, Eastern European maybe. He moved weirdly like he wasn't walking, kinda floating"

"Floating?"  
>Faust asked, incredulously.<p>

John looked at him.

"She means that he was very light footed"

The girl nodded then continued.

"They seemed to know each other well, though Alex seemed a little nervous around him at first like he didn't really trust him, but he must of 'cause he walked off with him"

John digested this, the man sounded familiar but he couldn't place why.

"Do you know where they headed? There might be security footage"

Again the girl nodded.

"They went to the carpark" she pointed in the general direction, which would've been helpful, if they hadn't been inside.

"Behind the school fields. He came back apparently fifteen minutes late to class, claiming it was a family friend, biological family not his adoptive family"

This raised a question that John wasn't sure he wanted to be answered.  
>Where was his baby brother? Why did Alex need to be adopted?<p>

Faust, however looked a little confused.

"He's adopted? I guess that makes sense about the surname thing, I just thought maybe there had been a split"

John ignored him.

"Well thanks for that, is there anything else?"

She shook her head.

"No not really, I just thought you should know"

She shuffled her feet slightly.

"I need to get back to class I was only suppose to be taking a bathroom break"

She turned and jogged down the corridor, disappearing from sight.

"I wonder why Alex failed to mention this?"  
>Faust spoke, seemingly pleased.<p>

It wasn't really a question, Faust's tone said as much, more of a cocky statement like he was glad to have some 'dirt' against him.

"Maybe he didn't consider it relevant?"

Faust smiled but it wasn't kind.

"Relevant to who? Maybe he didn't want us to know because he has something to hide"

The ill feeling inside John grew.

"Really? Your first suspect is a sixteen year old?"

Faust looked him straight in the face.

"Why not Chase? After all who would suspect a teenager doing somebody's dirty work? We should go look at some footage"

"That we should"

John already knew that this was going to be a long day.

**An.  
>There you go, first meeting done, hope it was up to standard.<br>Just to let you know that the **_**elephant in the room**_**was the fact that John and Alex knew who each other were but weren't going to mention it. Just in case you didn't pick up on that.**

**We have a question though, it's completely irrelevant to the story but we want your thoughts.**  
><strong>In Scorpia Rising, Alex got the part in Grease as a T-Bird in Brooklands and in Cairo Collage he got a small part in Blood Brothers, he also makes a comment that no matter where in the world he is, people are trying to make him sing.<strong>  
><strong>So here' s the question, he can obviously act but how many of you think that Alex can sing like sing well?<strong>

**All well give us your thoughts, like we said it is completely irrelevant, it's not like we are going to make him break out in song and dance (chuckles at mental image) just curious.**

**Reviews and I'll give you a bunny.**  
><strong> ()_()<strong>  
><strong> =( . . )=<strong>  
><strong> c( ) <strong>

** Bunny (Fanfiction why do you insist on decapitating my bunny) **

**-Jean & Diana**


	8. Unwanted Discoveries

**AN  
>Okay, so once again thank you for all your reviews, believe us when we say we love them.<br>So I was looking at this story's legacy stats and discovered it's been added to two communities, which is awesome. XD  
>This chapter is kind of a fuller chapter, because Diana actually dreamed this story there are gaps where it gets to one point to another, so we are kinda winging it with this chappy. Another thing, my sister and I have realised we have fallen a bit short with the family relationships for both Alex and John. So for this chapter, when you review, if you think there is something we have fallen short on something , due to the complex story line, tell us even if it is a really small thing. We would be really grateful.<br>Also did you know that the Eagle Strike graphic novel is coming out in June, I really want to get it.**

**-Jean & Diana**

Chapter Seven  
>Unwanted Discoveries<p>

John was bored.  
>He and Faust had been looking through hundreds of DVDs looking for the car park security footage dated for Friday last week. Nothing was in order; they had been here for hours with no results.<br>John slumped down into a computer chair and used his feet to turn it back and forth slightly.

"I need a coffee"

Faust looked up from his spot on the floor where he was sifting through boxes.

"For once, I agree with you. This is absolutely ridiculous, who organises this shit anyway?  
>They need to be sacked."<p>

John just nodded then examined the mess. He looked back at Faust.  
>He sighed again.<p>

"So, do you want a coffee?"

Faust ran his hand through his hair; he looked exhausted.

"Yeah, that would be nice"

John smirked and spun his chair in a full 360 then stopped it again with his toe.

"Can you make me one too?"

Faust looked at him, seemingly shocked.  
>"Are you being serious?"<p>

John managed a small tired chuckle.

"No, lighten up"

John got up from his chair, leaving it spinning in slow circles, and carefully stepped over the spread of DVDs on the floor.  
>He heard Faust mutter a quiet 'bastard' and the sound of something being thrown at him.<br>Without even thinking about it or looking back; John caught the object in midflight.  
>He just stared at the DVD in his hand not quite believing what just happened. John looked back at Faust, who was also starring in amazement. Both were silent.<br>It is remarkable what instincts your body remembers.  
>Faust finally broke the silence.<p>

"Nice catch"

John started laughing.

"Yeah, thanks"

He flipped the DVD around in his hand and paused.

"No freaking way"

Faust drew his eyebrows together in confusion.

"What?"

John read the title out loud.

"13th of the 1st, twelve" *

Faust opened then shut his mouth, resembling a fish.

"I meant to throw that"

John smirked and raised an eyebrow.

"Sure you did"

He walked back to his seat, forgetting about coffee. Faust pulled up another computer chair to sit on. This one had no back; it must have been broken off at some point.  
>John could feel Faust starring at him while he put the DVD into the player and started fast forwarding to the right time.<p>

"You know who Alex reminds me of Chase?"  
><em><br>Ah shit, here it comes._

John just shook his head and kept his eyes on the TV screen.

"I don't know Cahil, who does he remind you of?"

He could feel Faust regarding him.

"You"

The word came out short and blunt.  
>"How do you mean?"<p>

Faust seemed to think on this a bit before answering, John watched the clock in the corner of the CCTV footage.  
><em><br>9:00:00 am  
>9:10:38 am<em>

Why was this thing so slow?

Faust finally began talking again.  
>"Well, you are both smartasses for one, but there are other similarities too. Like when you were talking to each other, it was like mirror images. Both of you use hand gestures while talking and when he glared at me. It was the exact same look you gave me earlier. Exactly the same".<p>

John sighed.

_12:58:59pm_

_1:05:42pm_

_The back end of a car came into view as it parked, the legs of the driver could be seen as he (possibly a man by the style of the trousers) stepped out of the vehicle, but then walked out of view. _

"A lot of people use hand gestures when talking, it's a common thing"

Faust gave him a disbelieving look.

"And the look was just a coincidence was it?"

John was saved when two figures came onto the screen.

"Wait, look"

Faust stopped his ranting and looked over John's shoulder at the screen.  
>One of the figures was definitely Alex, who looked a little uneasy as he sat on the bonnet of a stranger's car. The other man was leaning against the back of the car that had parked earlier, his profile barely visible. The man turned and started to talk with Alex, his face now completely visible.<p>

"Pause. Right there"  
>Faust pretty much yelled. John obeyed.<p>

They zoomed in.  
>It felt as if someone had injected ice into his veins, his blood suddenly went cold.<br>John instantly recognised the man, though last time he saw him he was just a few years older than Alex is now.  
>Yassen Gregorovich. Cossack.<br>The man that had come to visit Alex, the family friend.  
>It suddenly made sense.<br>It still made him feel sick though, because Alex had personal connections to the contract killer.  
>Which brought round the question.<br>Did Alex know that he had been a spy? Or did he think he was an assassin?

Faust gave him a wary look.

"Do you know him?"_  
><em>_**  
><strong>_...Line Break...

Alex sat under the shade of a tree listening to his friends talk amongst themselves, while he watch some other students throw around an American football in the field.  
>The morning's events were still weighing heavily on his mind. Alex had been given an after school detention in English for not paying attention, not that he cared there are a lot worse things than detention.<br>Alex also was very aware of the fact that Ellie was staring at him. He still hadn't apologized for acting like an ass in Science. Alex opened his mouth to say something when a loud shout penetrated the air.

"What do you mean it can't be him!"

Alex whipped round to see John and Faust standing outside the admin building. Both of them looked pissed. He looked back his friends, all of them excluding Ellie looked startled, she seemed rather intrigued.  
>John was the one who had spoken.<br>They were now talking in hushed whispers probably aware of the attention of many teenagers on their lunch break.  
>Alex got up from his spot on the grass and quietly moved through the trees wanting to hear more of the conversation, he crouched down by the closest, only metres from where they were standing.<p>

John looked rather frustrated, he ran his fingers through his hair, then looked back at Faust.

"It has to be him, who else could it be?"

A twig broke behind Alex, he turned to see Ellie giving him the '_what the hell are you doing'_look. He grabbed her arm and pulled her down next to him, he pressed his finger to his lips telling her to be silent.

"I don't know Chase, but the records say that Gregorovich died almost two years ago"

Alex felt like cursing. They knew that Yassen had been here, it wouldn't be long till they start asking him questions again.

"Besides how would Rider have connections to an assassin? He is just a child!"

Alex flinched as he felt Ellie stiffen behind him, her eyes searing holes in the back of his head.  
>John's face quickly masked a look of guilt, replacing it with anger. He looked at the wall like he wanted to pulverise it.<p>

"Facial recognition said that it was him, it's not impossible that he faked his own death"

Faust shook his head, like he was tired of explaining.

"He died on Air Force One, in Heathrow, when that singer, Damian something, hijacked it to use the nukes. I looked it up, some journalist wrote a whole book on it"

Alex froze and he saw that John had too.

"Heathrow? He was in England? Alex is English, what was the name of the journalist?"

Alex was very aware that Ellie was silent, barely breathing. Her hand was grasping his shoulder like she was trying to hold onto the idea that Alex was just another troubled teenager and nothing more.  
>Faust shrugged.<p>

"I don't really remember, I think it was something like Edward Plea..." He stopped himself and just stared at John, who looked like he saw this coming.

"That can't be right, do you think that..."

"Edward and his family were the ones that adopted Alex" John finished, he shook his head.

"I don't think it's a coincidence"

John looked exactly how Alex felt.  
>Completely drained.<p>

"I don't think..." Faust cut him off.

"Think what Chase? That he is connected to all this. You are being naive, of course it is connected. If it is Yassen, then he is probably working for Phoenix and if he is talking to Alex then he is probably working for them too!"

John was shaking, Alex didn't know why. Anger maybe. Or was he in denial of what Faust thought he knew.

"You're being F**** ridiculous, Alex is sixteen. Besides you heard him this morning. He said that he wasn't going to let some pathetic criminal organisation stop him from going to school. Maybe his connection with the apparently dead assassin isn't a positive one"

Faust gave him a look between irritation and scorn.

"What teenager wouldn't want to take time of school when it's been offered, maybe just maybe, he has been planted here to spy on the school, who would suspect a teenager to be a spy"

Alex could suddenly find the irony in those words.  
>John was glaring at nothing in particular.<p>

"He has friends here, he has been attending the school for nearly two years. You are crossing borderline paranoia. We don't even know why they are so interested in the school anyway"

Faust gave John a sly look.

"Maybe it's him"

John's face went completely red with apparent rage.

"For F*** sake"

"Why do you keep defending him Chase? Why do you care so much?"

John took a deep breath, he look right at Alex, like he had known he had been there the whole time.  
>Ellie leaned right into him and whispered into his ear.<p>

"Alex, I think we should go now"

Honestly he agreed, but he knew if he tried to leave now, he would only attract Faust's attention too. Alex really did not want that.

"You didn't answer my question Chase?"

John tore himself away from Alex's gaze and looked at Faust in the eyes.

"Because I don't want to condemn him yet. A child's life must be very buggered if he knows people like that. We will do a background check, see what we can find, and just keep an eye on him, but I don't think we should throw him to the wolves before we know the truth"

Faust made a disgusted sound in the back of his throat, and looked towards the field.  
>The school bell rang signalling the next period had started.<p>

"Alex we_ need _to go" Ellie hissed.

Alex looked her in the eyes and shook his head.  
><em>Not yet.<em>  
>She seemed to understand, because she rolled her eyes and started scanning the area.<br>_Probably looking for teachers._

Faust looked back at John.

"You have a point, but as soon as that boy gives me a reason to, I'm putting him in cuffs and taking him to the station for questioning"

He didn't even wait for John to respond. He stormed past him to a side door of the school and slammed it behind him.

"Ever the dramatic one" John muttered under his breath. He leaned against the wall and ran his fingers through his hair again. He sighed and looked towards them.

"I hope you know what you are doing Alex" He paused, and took a deep breath.

"You better get going you're going to be late to class"

John turned and went through the same door as Faust, disappearing from sight.

Alex got dragged up by the collar of his shirt. He looked at Ellie, Alex had never seen her so angry. He let her drag him towards the school car park by his wrist. She unlocked her car and looked him straight in the eyes.

"Get in, we are going for a drive"

"_What?"_

She glared. Ellie was really fuming.

_"Get in,_ you are going to tell me _everything"._

**An  
>Another chapter<strong> **done and dusted and who knows how many there is to go, 'cos we honestly don't. Glad that we managed to finish this one, had a bit of writers block, and we started school this week. Diana's Classics teacher reminds us of Chiron from the Percy Jackson series, minus the horse's ass. And please if you think we have lacked in some part of the story, or you want us to add anything (within reason) tell us, we love your reviews and everything but constructive criticism is, well, constructive. Never thought we would have to ask for it though. :D  
>* This means the thirteenth of January, 2012, but we are pretty sure you Americans put the month first, which seems a little weird to us but each to his own.<br>We will update when we can.**

**-Jean & Diana**


	9. A Plan Of Action

**An  
>You know, I really don't know what to type here. I guess just the usual.<br>Again thank you for all your reviews, also the majority of the places mentioned in this chapter we got from Google Earth, if you live in San Francisco you might even know what we are talking about.  
>Disclaimer: Alex Rider does not belong to us, we also noticed that we did not write a disclaimer for the previous chapter... Awkward, so consider it disclaimed also.<strong>

**-Jean & Diana**

Chapter Eight  
>A Plan of Action<p>

Ellie had parked at the end of Marina Green Drive. The two of them were sitting by the rocks looking over Fort Mason, with Alcatraz in the distance.  
>It was very quiet.<br>Alex had just told her everything. Every little detail. Nothing was left out.  
>Now he was just waiting for a response. Alex knew it was best to just let her mull over it, so he just watched the moored boats move with the sea.<br>Despite everything, it was strangely peaceful.  
>Ellie looked up at him, disbelief written all over her face.<p>

"Seriously?" Her voice was barely audible.

Alex just looked down and nodded. His arms folded, resting on knees.  
>Ellie's face softened a bit.<p>

"Seriously?" This time when she asked it came out in the same way as _Holy Shit_ or some other form of cussing. Ellie shook her head and looked out across the bay.  
>When she looked back at him; a small smile had graced her features.<p>

"Who knew that one of my friends is a little hero"

Alex shook his head.

"I'm not a hero" he paused "And I'm not _little_"

Ellie laughed at him.

"Yes you are, I don't think you were listening to your own story. How many people would be dead right now if you hadn't done what you did? Probably more than I wish to count"

She pulled him into a hug and ruffled his hair. Alex tried to pull away but Ellie would hug him whether he wanted her too or not.

"I finally know why you hated all those Bond comments when you first started at school"

Even without looking, Alex knew she was grinning at him.

"Ellie"

"Hmmm" she tried to look him in the face, but he was hiding it between his knees.

"You're in my bubble"*

She let go of him and lightly slapped him on his shoulder. The two of them looked back over the bay, a companionable silence resting between them.

"We are so going to get into trouble for skiving from school, I already have one after school detention today"

Ellie shrugged.

"Well I guess it will be postponed for tomorrow then won't it, besides my dad will cover for me and most likely neither Edward or Liz would be home to answer the phone when the school rings to ask questions, so nothing really to worry about".

She turned to face him,

"It's not like you were in the right mood for school today anyway, much too dark but you're lighter now so you must be feeling a little better".

Alex nodded,

"I am but that won't stop the fact I have two FBI agents watching my every move because I'm a possible safety hazard. It really won't look good when they realise I'm not there"

Ellie huffed, then looked up at the clouds that where coming in over the bay. The smell of rain hanging in the air.

"So what are you going to do? Because I don't think Daddy will be able to protect you for long"

Alex had already begun thinking about this in the weekend. Yassen had written a few of his 'work mates' down as some possible allies that would help him. Sadly Alex knew some of them and it didn't seem too likely. But he would have to take the risk if he was going to find out what was going on and save Ian.

"Gregorovich gave me a few contacts that should help me...maybe, that or try to kill me but it's worth a shot"

Ellie gave him a strange look.

"So you are going to avoid the good guys by using the bad guys in order to help the good guys? I'm sorry but that seems like more trouble than it's worth"

Alex shook his head.

"There is no such thing as good guys and bad guys Ellie, only enemies and allies. There is one that would probably help me though, but he is also the biggest risk. Apparently he now owns an exclusive bar in Oakland, only mercenaries, ex spies, and contract killers allowed. It doesn't even have a name but Yassen gave me the address and I do fall into one of those categories, so I might be 'authorized access' "

"And if you're not?"

"I will find a way in, even if I have to punch the bouncer, though... I could be killed on sight, some of the guests probably aren't big fans of the Rider family especially me"

Ellie was grabbing at her hair, tugging at it. It was obvious she really did not think this was a good idea.

"When will you go?"

"Tonight, Yassen also told me to act like I have every right to be there, I might not get so much trouble if I do"

The first rain drops started to fall.

"I'll trust your judgement but I better be included in your will. And I mean like a decent note worthy mention"

She stood and grabbed her car keys from her pocket.

"Come on, let's stop off at Allstar's and grabbed some donuts, I need a sugar hit, who is this contact anyway".

Alex got up and brushed nonexistent dirt off his jeans.

"Someone I trained with at Malagosto, a man called Walker"

...Line Breaker...

Sabina had been having a really good day.  
>She had got to sleep in due to the fact her tutor didn't arrive till after ten. Her hair behaved itself and did what she wanted it to. Alex had remember to refill the coffee pot so she actually got one this morning.<p>

And when the tutor did arrive, it turned out to be a former student of Pacific Heights High, a man in his early twenties, doing a law degree and decided to help tutor for a bit a money. He had dark hair and a nice smile, Sabina didn't really listen to what he was actually trying to teach her but he was nice to look at.  
>It was after he left that she got a phone call from the school secretary that Alex hadn't turned up to his fourth period class and was absent for the rest of the day.<br>She had told the lady that he had come home due to feeling ill and that she would remind him to inform the sick bay first next time.  
>Then she just waited for him to make his appearance.<br>The rain was not helping her mood.

It wasn't till fifteen past four when the front door was opened then quietly shut again that signalled that Alex had returned.  
>Sabina waited a minute before she followed him up to his room.<br>She opened his door to see him with his back turned to her, so engrossed in a folder he was reading, he didn't seem to realise she had entered.

"Care to explain your absents from school today Alex"

He jumped up like she had just stabbed him with a pin. Sabina felt pretty smug, it probably showed on her face, it wasn't often that you could actually sneak up on him.  
>It was then she properly noticed the folder in his hand, well noticed the bold letters on the front claiming it was classified and was for authorised personnel only.<p>

"What are you reading Alex?"

He stepped away from her and hid the folder behind him.

"None of your concern"

She walked towards him, reaching out to grab it from him but he quickly moved out of the way.

"Judging by the bold letters on the front, it doesn't concern you either. Now hand it over"

She lunged for him, grabbing his arm but he tore away from her grip.

"No"

That one word officially started a three minute chase around Alex's bedroom, as he dodged her while she wildly grabbed for the folder. It ended when she managed to tackle him onto his bed, she put her knee into his chest, his arms and the folder trapped underneath him.

"Give it to me Alexander"

His face was impassive, but his jaw was locked.

"No"

Sabina should've known he was too proud to yield.  
>She shifted her position so she could keep his arms pinned and grab the folder. She ripped it from his hands. Alex hissed, part of her realised that she probably just gave him a paper cut.<br>Sabina flicked it open; it was a detailed profile on a man named Chase Evans.

"Sabina, please get off you're hurting me"

She rolled her eyes at him.

"It's not the first time you been hurt Alex"

"You're on my bullet wound"

She looked down at him and realised that, yes; her knee was planted right where his scar rested from an assassination attempt.

"Oops, sorry"

With that she got off him and kicked him onto the floor, leaving him massaging his chest, glaring at her.  
>Sabina glared right back. She held up the folder.<p>

"Why do you have this?"

His expression changed, it became sombre, he stopped massaging his chest.

"It's really important"

She looked back at the folder then back at him.

"Why is a detailed profile on Mister Chase Evans really important?"

Alex's gaze didn't waver, making Sabina feel a little unsettled.

"Look on page three, there are photographs"

She did as he asked. She came to an image of a serious face man with sharp features and dark eyes. There were other images too. These ones of his family, a pretty blonde woman and two teens. Sabina recognised the two adults; she had seen them in photos that Alex kept in his desk draw next to a war medal.

"But I thought that..."

Alex nodded, and chocked out

"Yeah, me too"

She traced her finger over the faces of the two teens.

"And these are their children"

Alex nodded again; his eyes were starting to rim with tears.

"My siblings"

Sabina hastily shut the folder and threw it onto his pillow. The sight of it made her feel sick.  
>How could someone do that to their own son?<br>After everything Alex had been through, this just wasn't fair.  
>She slid off the bed and embraced him in a tight hug.<p>

"I will always be here for you Alex, okay?"

He nodded. Sabina became aware of the silent sobs coming from him.

"Why do you have this Alex?"

"He is one of the detectives investigating the school, I just needed to know"

The words came out as a quiet mumble from her shoulder.

"How did you get it?"

She could feel him smile slightly.

"I still have a few friends in high places"

Sabina grabbed him by the shoulders and looked him in the eyes which were now rimmed with red.

"Well don't contact them again, I don't want you involved in that again okay"

Alex nodded.  
>She stood up and helped him to his feet. She grabbed the folder.<p>

"Come on"

His eyes flicked between the folder and her face.

"What are we doing?"

She just turned around and walked downstairs to the living room, where the fireplace was still glowing with embers.  
>Alex had followed her down.<p>

"What are you doing?"  
>Any trace of sadness in his voice had been replaced with irritable concern.<br>She held the folder up.

"You don't need this, they made their decision on who they wanted to live with"

His eyes widen with realisation on what she was about to do.

"Sabina. No!"

It was too late. She threw the folder into the fireplace, disturbing the embers making them erupt in to hungry flames greedily trying the new fuel.  
>Sabina turned back to see Alex's horror-stricken face as he watched the folder crumble to ash. She pulled him into a tight hug; he made no attempt to hug her back.<p>

"You're better without them Alex, family isn't always determined by blood"

She pulled away from him and walked into the kitchen to prepare dinner due to the fact her parents were going to be home late.

...

Sabina went to bed that night feeling rather good about herself.  
>She hoped that Alex had really put whatever he was up to out of his mind.<br>But she drifted off before she could hear the front door shut, the sound of her father's Mercedes start and pull out of the driveway as Alex Rider left with his mission on his mind.

**An  
>Awww Yeah ( Insert DamnLol meme here), how's that for a quick update. Don't get used to it though. Also Diana's foot is extremely numb from sitting...scratch that her whole leg just cramped into pins and needles, pissing myself laughing here people xD.<strong>

**She has been sitting on it for three hours.**

*** Okay the personal bubble, you get too close and you pop it, everyone has one.**

**We ummed and ahhed about whether or not to bring in Walker in the fear of making it too cliché, but then we realised this is a very cliché plot but we are making it original. So it shall be original.**  
><strong>Also it's late and we have school in the morning, shows how much we love you guys.<strong>  
><strong>Your reviews will be read and then reread and reread again, we cherish them so please review.<strong>

**-Jean & Diana**


	10. Enemies and Allies

**An  
>Hey, long time no post. Sorry about that. Anyways first things first, thank you to everyone who has reviewed this story; we now have one hundred and eleven of them. Also want to thank those who read and reviewed Birthday Wishes. Do you know what is awesome? When someone from church gives your family a free computer, and guess whose room it went in, Awww Yeah. :D<br>No updates next week as it's the one year anniversary of the Canterbury Earthquake on Wednesday.  
>But lets get to the story now.<br>Disclaimer: We don't own anything you ****recognise****.**

**- Jean & Diana**

Chapter Nine  
>Enemies and Allies<strong><strong>

John could hear Aiden and Marcus arguing before he even walked through the door.  
>He walked into the living room to see Marcus standing on the arm of the sofa, holding a cell phone high above his head. Aiden was clinging on to him trying to pull him down so she could rip the phone from her brother's grasp.<p>

"Giv'it back, you ass!"

John was about to intervene when Aiden balled her hand into a fist and sucker punched her brother in the gut. Marcus dropped the phone and fell into the sofa's cushions. He curled up into a ball, groaning and holding his stomach.

"That's enough!" John roared

Aiden jumped round to look at him, Marcus lifted his head.  
>Aiden reached down and grabbed the phone off the floor, slipping it into her jean's pocket.<br>She smiled at him sweetly.

"Hi Daddy, how was work?"

"Hand me the phone Aiden"

Aiden recoiled and placed her hand protectively over her pocket.

"_What? _It's _my _phone, he" she gestured to Marcus who was still curled up on the sofa "Took it from me"

"And that is a decent excuse to hit him? Give me the phone"

She glared at him, then pulled the phone from her pocket and threw it to him. John grabbed it in mid air.

"That wasn't to difficult, now was it? Now both of you, go to bed you have school in the morning"

"Fine"

Aiden headed upstairs, Marcus uncoiled himself and sat up slowly, rubbing his stomach.

"Evil little witch, should have never taught her how to hit"

John smiled a little.

"Don't wind her up and it wouldn't be a problem. Bed, now"

Marcus sighed and looked up at him, at that moment he looked exactly as Alex had when he was hiding behind that tree. Wary, not quite sure if he was going to get into trouble or not.

"Okay, see you in the morning Dad"

He followed his sister upstairs.

John ran his fingers through his hair and looked around.  
>Where was Helen?<p>

.….….Line Break…**  
><strong>  
>John found her in the master bedroom, sprawled on the bed watching television.<p>

"Did you hear the kids fighting?"

He removed his shoes and socks, and then headed towards the wardrobe.

"Yeah I did"

John looked back at her, she was still staring at whatever show she was watching.

"Why didn't you do anything?"

He hung up his jacket and started to get changed into some pajama bottoms and an old shirt.

"I always find it best to let them work it out"

"Do you really think that is a good idea? For all you know that could be killing each other"

Helen sighed.

"Don't worry Chase, if it gets too out of hand I will intervene and I can get pretty scary"

John laughed, walked back and collapsed on the bed next to her.

"I don't doubt it"

Helen gave a silent chuckle.

"Good" She began to run her fingers through his hair "How was work?"

John groaned into his pillow.

"That bad huh?"

"You have no idea" John's voice was barely audible through the pillow.

"What happened?" Had John been able to see her, he would've noticed Helen frown a little.

"All my demons came back to haunt me in the form of a teenager"

Helen stopped stroking his hair and sat up slightly.

"_What?"  
><em>Her voice was etched with horror and confusion.  
>John looked up at her.<p>

"Alex lives in Pacific Heights and attends the school we are investigating" John sighed "He is also the 'main suspect'"

John made the quotation marks with his fingers.

"Alex? _Our Alex?" _

John sat up and looked her in the eyes.

"No Ana, the _other Alex_, The one who used to deliver newspapers every morning"

Even an idiot would've been able to hear the sarcasm in his voice.  
>Helen put her hands in her lap, she looked very distressed.<p>

"I…I don't understand, why isn't he in England with Ian?"

John's gut told him he knew the answer to that question, but he didn't want to believe it.  
>He gave her a sad look.<p>

"He is living with an adoptive family…Helen I don't think Ian is around anymore"

Helen looked into her lap, shaking her head. John could hear her repeating the word no over and over. John pulled her in and held her. He always knew that she had this naïve fantasy when it came to Alex's life, and right now it was breaking before her. His shirt was becoming wet with her tears.

"Why is he a suspect? What did he do?"

John mulled over this a bit unsure how to answer.

"Not quite sure, he is an enigma. Perfectly nice guy one minute then…"  
>John shook his head<br>"I was talking to him today, he said the reason that he wasn't pull out of school was because he 'wasn't going to let some pathetic organization stop him going to school' and when Faust questioned him on it, it was like we had thrown a switch. His demeanor completely changed.  
>He is dangerous, lethal even. I don't think you would be in a good condition if you crossed him"<p>

Helen was drinking in everything he was saying, her breathing was shallow.

"He just acted so much like a…" John paused not wanting to say it.

"A spy?" Helen questioned into his shirt, her voice timid.  
>John closed his eyes and nodded.<p>

"Yeah just like a spy. On top of that he seems to be on good terms with Gregorovich, he met up with him last Friday, we have video evidence of that. Also he knew I was coming, he _knew_ I was alive; he didn't seem surprised when he saw me"

His tone was becoming higher, the pace of his words quickening showing his distress.

"We tried to do a background check on him and we didn't have the _clearance_ to do so, his file is blocked from the FBI, completely locked down. We are going to have to request permission from the CIA to get so much as who he lived with before he moved to America"

John stopped and took a deep breath trying to compose himself.

"We've had to set up a team who are posted down his street, watching his every move seeing if he is up to anything he shouldn't be"

John stopped there, unable to continue. He felt completely lost. The whole reason he and Helen never retrieved Alex from England because they feared that if they did they would put him in danger, they thought he was safer there.  
>What if that very decision was the reason Alex was the way he was now?<br>If Ian was dead, would Blunt let the Rider legacy end with him?  
>John doubted it, but the thought plagued his mind making him feel uneasy.<p>

"I want meet him" Helen's voice yanked him out of his thoughts.

John looked at her, panic rising in him.

"No you can't"

Helen pushed him away and glared at him.

"Why not? He is my _son_"

"It's dangerous Helen, _He _is dangerous" John paused thinking this through "At least while the investigation is happening"

He rose his hand and caressed her face, she looked away from him.

"I'll see if I can arrange something, _after _the investigation. We can't push him, I doubt he thinks highly of us"

She was about to say something, but was stopped by the sound of his pager.  
>John got up from the bed and looked at the message.<p>

"It's from Faust, Alex is on the move"

"What?" Helen looked at the bedside clock "It's half past twelve"

John had already chucked on some clothes; he picked up his car keys.

"I told you, he is up to something"

He walked over to her and gave her a kiss.

"I'll be home as soon as I can"

Helen nodded. As he began to walk away she called out.

"Protect him okay, don't let him get hurt"

John nodded.

"I'll try"  
>John took a deep breath and headed to the front door.<p>

…..…Line Break….

Alex sat inside the Mercedes staring at the size of the bouncers outside the club.  
>He could turn back now; he could go to the FBI and tell them what he knew.<br>No.  
>He had to do this alone, if he went to them he would never be able to get the information he needed to find Ian, and despite everything he didn't want John involved. There was too much at stake. He had already sacrificed so much to try and keep his family safe. If he got involved he might as well send up a flare, saying <em>"Hey I'm alive, shoot me in the face" <em>  
>Alex examined the building again. It didn't look like much; you could probably walk down this street everyday and be completely oblivious to its existence, let alone the type of people that resided in it.<br>Quite genius really.  
>Alex took a deep breath gathering up his courage. He looked at the bandanna on his wrist and decided to remove it. He undid the knot in the fabric and chucked it into the back seat.<br>Gazing at his tattoo he was almost tempted to put it back on, the thing could get him killed before he even blinked. He thought over what Yassen had told him in his notes.  
>Was he pushing it?<br>Either way he could be dead before sunrise.  
>Screw it; he is going to do this.<br>Alex got out of the car, locked it behind him and stuffed the keys into his pocket.  
>He walked right up to the entrance, not even acknowledging the two bouncers, as if he always came here, they should know him and not even think twice about letting him in.<br>A mammoth arm stopped him.

"Where do you think you're going kid?"

Alex looked at him like he was crazy.

"Inside, where do _you_ think I'm going?"

The bouncer stepped closer to him; Alex became aware of the fact that, despite his great size there wasn't an ounce of fat on the man. Two hundred and ninety pounds of pure muscle was standing in front of him. Alex resisted the urge to turn back.  
>The man looked over to his buddy who was standing in front of the door, arms crossed. He smirked at him. They probably thought he was some teenager who got the wrong address to some party.<p>

"I think you have the wrong place kid, scat" he waved him off with a slight jerk of the head.

Alex imitated the second bouncer's stance; arms crossed head tilting slightly upwards looking into his eyes. A smirk crossed his features.

"And I think you're mistaken"

The first bouncer lost his smug look and looked at him like he was weighing him up for the first time. He narrowed his eyes at Alex.

"And why is that?"

Alex noticed that he had dropped the kid.*  
>His next comment could just get him killed right here on the pavement. But he said the words anyway.<p>

"Because this is the address Gregorovich gave me"  
>Alex leant his right arm on the doorframe, his scorpion tattoo completely visible.<p>

"And I don't think you fully understand who I am"

The bouncer was surprisingly quick. He slammed Alex against the masonry and grabbed his throat. Alex noticed in the corner of his eye that the second bouncer had produced a gun.

"Then enlighten me you little runt"

Alex curled back his lips into a snarl. He had to be quick if he didn't want to be shot.  
>He brought up his knee into the man's groin, making him loosen his grip. Alex dropped down to his knees slamming his fist into the man's kneecap. The bouncer choked out a scream. Alex then ended it with an uppercut to the man's jaw. His eyes rolled and he collapsed.<br>Alex turned his eyes to the second bouncer, who was staring at him thunderstruck.  
>He took an aggressive step forward; Alex went into fighting stance resting on the balls of his feet, ready for the attack. When suddenly a female voice cut through the cold, night air like a knife.<p>

"Causing trouble again Alex?" A dark haired woman was standing just outside the doorway. She looked at the second bouncer.

"Sort out your comrade"  
>Her accent sounded Israeli which sounded strange saying the Russian term. She turned her cold eyes towards Alex, at that moment he realized he knew her but couldn't bring a name to the face.<p>

"You're late, come. Walker is waiting for you"

Her slim figure walked gracefully back through the doorway, Alex stood shocked for a second before following.

**An  
>Yeah another chapter done, it's ten forty seven pm and we have to be up at five thirty tomorrow. Aren't we good to you guys. Didn't realize how long this chapter was going to be so we are cutting it into two. You get to meet Walker in the next one, you excited?<br>* writing this sentence suddenly brought to mind this image of a giant man dropping a child and it bursting into tears, don't know why but we found it funny.  
>So yeah you know the drill, updates follow reviews because reading your comments help us write the next one so please review.<br>Expect the chapter within the next two weeks as we are taking the next week off.  
>Well thank you, you lovely people and good night.<strong>

**-Jean & Diana**

**  
><strong> 


	11. Family Extermination Project

**An  
>Okay we know we said that we would update in a week but something came up.<br>Diana had a bit of a funny turn and wasn't well for a few days afterwards, had to get a blood test because the doctors don't know what's wrong with her, she is apparently not epileptic because she doesn't faint or have fits often enough to be considered as one.  
>Anyway she is okay now, mostly, so no need to worry.<br>Once again thanks for all the reviews, we love your comments. This chapter may be a short one due to the fact it was supposed to be part of the previous one which was getting long and we wanted to update before the weekend ended.**

Disclaimer: Alex Rider and co does not belong to us, in reality; we like to think he does.

Chapter Ten  
>Family Extermination Project<p>

Alex followed the woman into the bar and examined his surroundings.  
>The place itself was made of two main parts, the ground floor was just like an ordinary bar, with tables and chairs for those eating there, the bar itself with stools, pool tables etc. To the side was a glass staircase, leading to an inside balcony that overlooked the ground floor; Alex guessed this was for exclusives only.<br>There were a few side doors leading to bathrooms, the kitchen, and a back exit.

The whole place was sleek, silver panelling, marble top tables and bar, music playing loud enough so you couldn't overhear other people's conversations, but not so loud that it would be difficult to hold a conversation. At first it seemed rather innocent, but there was something in the air that made you wary, watching your back to make sure no one was going to stick a knife in it.

The place was far from empty, people filled every table. All dressed smartly, as if to prove that they were wealthy and had connections high up, so you wouldn't cross them. All radiated that feeling of dangerous confidence, watching each other making sure no one was listening in on whatever they were talking about.  
>Even though no one had outright looked at him when he entered, Alex knew that every single person knew that he was here, and that they were probably watching him.<br>For the first time Alex wondered if there was a bounty for anyone with the Rider name, and if so, if it was enough to cause trouble for.  
>He also couldn't help but to wonder how many dodgy dealings that were going on in this room.<br>Crooked spies or cops talking with assassins, making arrangements for problematic people that nobody would know about until a body bag was pulled out of the Bay and money had long ago been exchanged.

Alex examined the woman who was leading him towards the stairs, weaving between the masses of people. He knew that he should know her but couldn't place a name to the face. All he knew is that there was some instinct telling him she was not someone you wanted to get in a fight with. Instinct also told him he knew from personal experience.  
>Maybe she had dyed her hair or something since they had met last making it difficult to identify her.<br>But her dark hair looked natural, matching her eyes and tanned skin that confirmed her Israeli origin.

Maybe she stopped dying her hair?

Making their up the stairs, they stopped at a corner booth, where Walker was talking with a dark haired male.  
>He looked up at him, half smiling, half grimacing like he couldn't decide whether or not it was a good thing Alex was here.<p>

"Alex Rider, tell me I cannot decide for myself, are you really brave or just stupid?"

The dark haired man looked up at the mention of Alex's name, and started regarding him, as if he was trying to work out the question for himself.  
>Alex smirked.<p>

"I'll have to get back to you on that one Walker"

This time Walker did smile. He stood.

"Dare I say it, but it's actually good to see you again"

He held out his hand and they shook. Walker raised an eyebrow at the tattoo.

"I'm going to go with incredibly stupid" He gestured to the sofa "please sit down"

Alex complied, Walker returned to his own seat. The Israeli woman sat close next to him.

_His girlfriend? Or whore?_

Walker offered her a small smile.

_Maybe girlfriend._

Walker seemed to be sizing him up, probably wondering where to go from here.  
>He glanced over to the male like he just remembered he was still there.<p>

"Caleb if you please, check with security, make sure no one else gets past the bouncers"

The dark haired man, Caleb, nodded and made his way his way to the stairs, moving with a grace that Alex had connected with contract killers. Someone else he will have to watch.  
>Walker turned back to him.<p>

"Now he's gone we can talk, first things first, Alex surely you remember Amanda. She pretty much adopted you at Malagosto if I recall correctly"

Realisation flashed through his mind. He was suddenly glad that Amanda couldn't read his thoughts.  
>Alex put on his biggest smile, and gestured towards her.<p>

"Of course I remember Amanda, how could I possibly forget"

Amanda did something crossed between a smile and a smirk, rolling her eyes at him.

"Little liar, you didn't have a clue who I was"

Alex gave her a sheepish look and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Hehe, yeah I didn't have a clue, sorry"

"That's quite alright, as long that is not the only thing you're sorry for"

Alex glanced at Walker, who was watching the exchange silently. He gave Amanda a wary look.

"You mean the whole thing with Rothman"

Amanda nodded.

"It's not really my fault, she played her cards wrong, she tried to kill me when she could've kept me oblivious to the whole Invisible Sword project, training on Malagosto, but she had to get revenge on my Dad. So I'm hardly to blame that it went against her"

Walker was hiding a smirk, seemingly pleased with his answer.

"But you pushed Nile out of the hot air balloon"

Alex shook his head.

"I didn't push him, he tripped"

Amanda gave him an incredulous look.

"Alex, the man was on fire!"

"Which is why he tripped" Alex stated weakly

Amanda started to glare at him. Alex felt anger begin to bubble up inside his chest, giving him a burning sensation that he was _sadly_all too familiar with.

"Oh come on, _He_was the bloody genius that decided to throw a sword around in a balloon. Emphasis on balloon, what do you think would've happened?"

Amanda opened her mouth to say something, but Walker cut her off.

"Amanda enough, we are here for other reasons and until _I_decide otherwise Alex is a guest"

Amanda was obviously way too old to sulk, not that it stopped her. Her bottom lip jutted out while she sat with her arms crossed. She turned her head away from Alex, and that's when he noticed a tattoo on the back of Amanda's neck.  
>It was a bird in full flight, wings extended, with flames coming off its wings and tail.<br>A Phoenix.  
>Suddenly Alex felt cold, if she wasn't before, Amanda was now a potential threat. She had her own loyalties, he had to remember, her own interests. This might come out unfavourably for Alex if he was not careful.<p>

"Alex you must understand, you destroyed Scorpia, many of our colleagues were arrested, killed before they got a chance to be put on trial. The only reason no one here has tried anything yet is because that Russian is paying me for your safe keeping and nobody is going to cross me here"

Alex was rather surprised, it probably showed on his face.

"Yassen is paying you?"

Walker nodded, his face showing slight amusement.

"Yes it would seem he has a soft spot for you. He is paying me to keep you safe while I hear you out, and will continue paying me if I choose to help you. The man seems to understand the amount of trouble you have a habit of causing. Which begs the question, Alex why do you need my help?"

Alex thought carefully on how to respond, he didn't know how much information he could trust Walker with.

"I know that Ian is alive, that Scorpia or at least someone working with Scorpia held him captive before the whole thing in Cairo. Also that he is now somehow connected with Phoenix and the targeting of my school. I want to know how to get him back and why Phoenix is targeting the school?"

Walker looked at him like he was truly seeing him for the first time.

"And what makes you think I would know any of this?"

Alex looked over at Amanda, who was staring at him curiously.

"I have reasons to believe you have connections to them, how many of their agents do you think have walked into this place? Am I supposed to believe you have not heard anything?"

Walker shared a look with Amanda. An understanding seemed to pass between them.

"I think I'll leave you two to talk"

She got up and walked off. Walker waited till she was out of sight before he began talking again.

"So, you are aware of the fact that your uncle is alive"

Alex nodded. Walker gave him a wary look.

"What about your parents?"

Alex's face darkened.

"I'm aware of that also"

Walker nodded.

"Aware of it and obviously not pleased about it. Understandable. Well that makes things easier, I did not want to be the one to tell you that"

Walker lent back into the sofa and looked out over the bar, it was close to one in the morning and the crowd of people was slowly dwindling. He seemed to be thinking things through, working out what to tell Alex. Finally he looked back at him.

"Scorpia began as a very small, but violent organisation. At the beginning even the Intelligence services seeked their assistance. You are probably already aware of this. As the organisation grew they were seen more as a threat. Many tried to infiltrate Scorpia without success, most ended up never seen again. No Scorpia had never failed a job not up until they met your father.  
>Staged assassinations and security leaks, the Governments kept finding out their plans, everything was going down the shit hole"<p>

Walker shook his head in amusement.

"They thought they had sorted the problem after Ash bombed the plane. But he fooled everyone yet again even MI6. Got to respect the bastard, if you don't mind me calling him that"

Alex shook his head.

"Not at all"

Walker smiled, then continued.

"We had a bit of trouble with your uncle at first, but it seemed that Blunt didn't want to lose another Rider due to Scorpia as most of the missions were never in depth with them.  
>You would probably have been ten, when we found out about John being alive. The board decided not to bother with him just yet, to wait things out. Wait until he had completely let his guard down.<br>It wasn't until the issue with the Stormbreakers came about before John became a threat again.  
>He had just been recruited by the FBI, he was removing our informants, whether by arrest or by the bullet it didn't matter. At the time your uncle was more of an issue"<p>

"This is because Scorpia was supplying Herod with the R5, Correct?"

Walker nodded.

"Yes and of course Ian was the one investigating. So we decided to kill two birds with one stone.  
>Instead of having Gregorovich kill your uncle like Sayle wanted, we captured him, messed with forensics so the reports stated that it was indeed Ian Rider in the car. MI6 never looked at the body, they don't tend to. Keeps that emotional separation, a way of avoiding guilt.<br>The plan was to bait John into saving his brother, we were about to make contact but something came up"

Alex smirked; he couldn't help it, just the way Walker was looking at him. Somehow he found the trouble his family had caused the organisation rather amusing.

"Yet another Rider"

Walker laughed.

"Yeah, no one saw it coming. You were only fourteen, why would we even consider you a threat? You knew nothing of MI6. But there you were, walking around the place like you freaking owned it, generally causing havoc. None of us knew what to do; we honestly did not know what to make of your sudden appearance. In a way, it was a good thing that Sayle became such an embarrassment we thought once we got rid of him you wouldn't be a problem anymore"

Walker paused for a moment, his eyebrows drawn together.

"For the next few months rumours circled round. Of a teenaged British spy we became wary. We had never told Rothman about your father's survival so the plan of flushing him out had to go on hold. Then there was the deal with Damian Cray, just our luck that you happened to be staying with that family but no, the bomb was planted and we pissed off a Rider. By this time that surname of yours was becoming some kind of bad omen.  
>You were right in what you said to Amanda, Rothman played her cards wrong. She sought out revenge instead of looking at the bigger picture; you could have been our best operative. There is no doubt on that. Alas you destroyed Invisible Sword so we had someone to deal with you. That vote was nowhere near one-sided by the way only two votes out."<p>

Walker sighed; he was beginning to look weary.

"We were just getting everything pulled back together when we found out you were messing with Yu's Snakehead. We were honestly pissed; you Riders just can't leave anything alone. At this time we still hadn't gotten your father yet, we still had your uncle, who was getting old and hairy in the basement and you would not stay down and seemed impossible to kill"

Alex was silently laughing to the point that his eyes were tearing but he couldn't but feel sick at the description of his uncle, Walker made him sound like some forgotten fruit that had gone bad at the back of the fridge.

"You know why that is ae?"

Walker looked at him weirdly.

"What?"

Alex managed to keep a straight face.

"We are impossible to kill because Heaven doesn't want us and Hell is too afraid we will take over"

Walker smiled.

"Wouldn't surprise me if that was true" Walker's expression darkened.

"Jumping ahead a few months and we get to Cairo. That was such a mess, Scorpia was unravelling. Kroll warned the board not to go ahead with bringing you into it. He knew it would kill the organisation completely. But he was just called a coward, shot dead and thrown into a river. It was bloody on both sides Alex, not that I need to tell you that. A stupid mistake based around revenge"

It was silent for a minute. It was weird to hear an ex Scorpia agent say that it was a mistake. That it shouldn't have happened, those who died shouldn't have.

"So what's happening now?"

Walker raised an eyebrow.

"Now? Well first thing is that I am now a freelancer, which is why Yassen thought it was best for you to come to me. I have no loyalties, only to the highest bidder. Phoenix is slowly building, but there is still one problem. Riders, simple as that. Not to mention a few other that have been problematic. So what they do is they target your school, bringing the attention of the FBI or rather one man in the FBI. They make you aware of their existence. They bring themselves to the attention to the oh so protective Yassen Gregorovich, who tells you about your uncle. Eventually you have the entire Rider family in one place as well as those others. So now you can kill more than two birds with one stone"

Alex felt dizzy.

"Wait what?"  
>"Alex they are doing what Scorpia had planned to do with your father. They are baiting you. So they can kill the lot of you and do whatever they want without interference"<p>

Alex stared at Walker, not quite grabbing at the concept, not wanting to believe it.

"So you're telling me that this is an...extermination?"

Walker nodded.

"That is one way of putting it. An extermination. And here is what you need to do"

...Line Break...

John had never felt so nervous just by looking at a building entrance. Something inside him was telling him to turn back. That he was just going to cause himself trouble.  
>John could see the Mercedes that was registered to Alex's foster father parked just a few cars in front of him.<br>Cahil was sitting shotgun, also inspecting the place.

"Don't look like much"

John sighed.

"This is why we should be careful. The owners clearly don't want to draw attention to themselves"

Cahil got out of the car first.

"Come one let's take a look at the kid's car"

John sighed again. He slipped on his jacket and got out of the car, locking it behind him.

"He's not a kid, and it's not his car"

Cahil just rolled his eyes and lent against the car looking through the driver's side window his hands curving around his face so he could see clearly.

"You're lucky that's not alarmed, you could've drawn attention to us before we found anything out"

Cahil ignored him. John also started to inspect the car. It seemed to be well taken care of. Clean, no trash lying on the floor. Then again it doesn't actually belong to the teenager. What did catch his eye was the bandanna and a wooden bead necklace on the backseat. John recognised it as the bandanna that Alex had tied around his wrist.  
>So why had he taken it off?<p>

"There is some kind of folder sitting on the passenger seat"

The voice came from the other side of the car.

"What?"

"Come 'ere"

John went over to where Cahil was standing and looked through the window. Like he said there was a brown manila folder on the seat, with a thumbnail sized picture paper clipped to it. There was also bold letters stamped on it but the darkness inside the car obscured both the image and the writing.  
>John pulled a small torch out from his jacket pocket, making Cahil raise an eyebrow. John shined the light through the window and onto the folder.<br>An icy coldness travelled down his spine as he examined the folder.  
>There where bold letters declaring the folder to be top secret, and in the corner image he saw himself.<br>Cahil gasped.

"No way, where did he get that?"

John turned off the torch and slipped it back into the jacket pocket.  
>His face sombre.<p>

"Gregorovich gave him a folder remember, maybe that's the folder"

Cahil looked at him weirdly.

"Why would the assassin go to the trouble of giving him a folder on _you?_On second thought, why the hell is your file top secret?"

John sighed and shook his head.

"That's a long complicated story, one I do not have time to tell"

Cahil didn't say anything, the expression on John's face told him it wasn't a good time.

"We should go through the back exit, cause less of a scene that way"

John nodded.

"I agree, come on"

They quietly headed around the building, carefully avoiding the two tanks that were the bouncers. John couldn't tell exactly due to the lack of light but one of the bouncers didn't look too good. He had a massive bruise on the side of his face and was standing weirdly, like he had hurt his knee and groin at the same time. Whoever took that man down John did not want to meet.  
>Cahil stopped suddenly. They had reached the back door where one man was having a smoke.<p>

"Now what" Cahil whispered.

John just shrugged, he was honestly just winging it, he had no idea what he was doing.

Cahil nodded.

"Mmmhmmm, well okay then, sounds like a good plan but allow me"

With that the short man began to walk purposefully towards the smoker that was twice his size.

"_Cahil_, what the f..."

"Oi what do you think you're doing here mate"

The smoker had seen him. Cahil just kept walking towards the entrance like he hadn't heard.

_The F***, the prat is going to get himself killed_

"Oi I'm talking to you"

With that the man grabbed Cahil by the back of his collar shirt and threw him against the wall.  
>John winced.<br>Cahil spat in the man's face.

"What the hell!"

The man raised a fist and John knew it was time to step in.

John moved forward quickly and silently, creeping up behind the man.

Just as he was about to connect his fist to Cahil's face , John grabbed it and pulled it violently back, twisting it round until it cracked, the smoker let loose a scream, at the same time John used his other hand to punch the man in the small of his back and then throw him on the ground.

Cahil was staring at him, dumbstruck but John kept his eyes on smoker, who was trying to get up while holding his arm limply to his side. Once standing up straight, the man locked his eyes onto John, rage filling them, his cigarette still hanging on the side of his mouth.

_Now that's talent_

With an aggravated screech, the man charged at him.

John side-stepped and held out his arm, grappling the man by his throat.

The smoker back-kicked John in the kneecap, pain coursed up his entire leg causing him to grunt but John refused to loosen his grip; instead he used his free hand to grab the cigarette out of the man's mouth and extinguished it against the back of his neck.

The man screamed again, jolting away from him. John used this opportunity to punch the man in the back of the head, knocking out cold.

Staring at the unconscious man at his feet, John almost felt the urge to smile.

"Well, I haven't done that for awhile"

Cahil was still staring at him, John walked forward, limping slightly and opened the back entrance.

Holding the door open he looked back at Cahil.

"Shall we?"

They walked into what seemed to be the kitchen; it was empty apart from two people who were staring like they were waiting for them. Alex was one of them, dressed in dark clothing.

"Having fun were we?"

John could have sworn that he was laughing at him, his eyes filled with mirth.  
>The second man looked down at Alex.<p>

"I'll leave this to you, I have a business to attend to, try not to destroy the place"*

The man left through a door that seemed to lead into the bar itself. It was silent.  
>Alex looked him right in the eye.<p>

"Were you born stupid or did it just come about with age?"

John stared at him like he was just slapped. Cahil cracked up laughing.

"Shut up short stuff, don't even get me started on you"

"_Excuse me?"  
><em>  
>Alex sneered. At that moment John realised how dangerous Alex might be.<p>

"You're excused; leave both of you now, before one of us ends up getting killed"

"What exactly do you mean by that? You're going to kill us blondie?"

Alex's hand twitched like the suggestion appealed to him.

"I could, but that wouldn't really get me anywhere now would it? No, I'm referring to the bounty hunters and assassins currently residing in this building. It's bad enough I'm here; they are probably twitching to get out their weapons. But if they find out you are here" He gestured to John

"They are going to have a f***ing field day, and Faust will just be collateral damage"

Something flashed in Alex's eyes and John realised something. He was scared. Not for himself otherwise he would have never come here. But he was scared for John. Why?

"You really need to leave, or do I have to escort you out"

Cahil snorted.

"You can try"

Alex smiled, but there was something strangely cold about it.

"How do you think I got in? I came through the front door and it wasn't pretty"

John furrowed his eyebrows for a minute then cracked up laughing before he could stop himself.

"Wait that bouncer with the black eye, that was you?"

Alex looked down at his shoes, but John could see the sincere smile crossing his face.

"I might have had something to do with that, but you don't have to sound so surprised, I'm more dangerous than I look" Alex lowered his voice down to a mutter like he was talking to himself.

"That's probably why I'm dangerous"

John gave Cahil a sideways look, he shrugged in return.

"Fine we'll leave"

"_What! We just got here, you're backing out because the kid told you to?"_

John ignored him.

"We'll leave but you're leaving with us"

Alex gave him a distrusting look. Somehow it hurt.

"Leaving _with_ you, or leaving at the _same time_ as you?"

John shook his head.

"We can't take you with us, don't have a warrant, can't hold anything against you"

Cahil scoffed.

"How about being in a bar underage, surrounded by contract killers at one o'clock in the morning?"

Alex rubbed the back of his neck gave a cheeky smile.

"You won't be able to charge me"

John had stopped listening; he was too busy staring at the tattoo on Alex's wrist. The lack of light in the kitchen meant he couldn't see the whole thing. All he saw was a thick, black scorpion.

_Just like the one he had seen in his dream. Why would Alex get Scorpia's symbol tattooed on his wrist?_

"Anyway I should be getting home, I suggest you guys leave also"

With that Alex walked between them and out the back door.  
>John blinked and stared after him wondering what the hell just happened.<p>

**An  
>Well so much for being a short chapter. Fifteen pages that's the longest one yet.<br>We think you now understand why we split the chapters.**

*** Okay so this bit reminded us of a video game where you just bet this really super hard guy that you've been trying to defeat for ages, then you go through the door and there is a boss smiling at you like "I'm gonna f*** you up" and you pretty much shit yourself, turn off the console and go "Screw this shit, let's play scrabble"**

**__Anyway you know the drill, reviews make updates easier, and quicker (in theory).**

**It's late and we are tired so goodnight, hopefully you enjoy this seriously long update.**

**-Jean & Diana**


	12. Seeing Red

**An  
>Okay so I'm pretty much going into this chapter blind but I <strong>_**think **_**I know what I'm doing.  
>My sister and I have noticed that a lot of you are saying that Sabina and Alex don't have a close enough relationship. And yes we will admit we have been a bit slack on that front, but we intend to remedy this.<br>Also for the last chapter we got twenty-one reviews. That's the most reviews we've had for a chapter yet, so thank you all round for that. :D  
>I'm actually glad that I can update so soon because my memory stick packed a sad, so we lost everything, good thing you can download your chapters from Fanfiction itself. Though we discovered that it downloads as a whole, a whole 75 page document. 29,692 words, freaking exhausting separating them again.<br>Anyways, on with the chapter!  
>Disclaimer: We own nothing, except plotline and OCs<strong>

Chapter Eleven  
>Seeing Red<p>

"_Alex, Get up!"  
><em>  
>Sabina's voice came out as a harsh whisper. Alex, half buried in his covers, opened an eye to see her knelling beside his bed, fully dressed for school.<p>

"What 'ime 'sit?

Sabina gave him a bland look.

"Alex I don't understand gibberish"

Alex stretched out, something in his back popped, he sat up. His hair seemed impossibly messy; he blinked a few times, swaying a little. It was obvious that he was nowhere near awake yet.

"What time is it?"

" 'Round about eight, give or take" she got up and sat at the end of his bed. "What time did you go to sleep?"

Alex's head tilted back a little, blinking, trying to get her face into focus.  
>Alex got home around about two in the morning; he climbed up the side of the garage onto the roof, jumped and got to his window sill. He had left his window purposely open so he could sneak back in without waking anyone. From there, he got out of his jeans, removed his jacket and collapsed on the bed. Judging from the way he woke up, he hadn't moved once in his sleep.<br>Of course he wasn't going to tell Sabina this.

"Don't 'member"

Sabina shook her head and laughed slightly.

'Sure, you don't. Get dressed and I'll get you a coffee. Let's see if you can lie better after that"

...

Alex finished his coffee, waiting for a lecture from Sabina, but she seemed to be in her own world, silently working something out in her head. Edward was at work, Liz walking Brax. The house was completely quiet.

"Alex?"

Alex looked up at her, she seemed scared about something.

"Yeah?"

Sabina took a shaky breath.

"You need to know that, when you first moved in with my family, it was like someone had killed my best friend. You were so broken, you still are"

Alex wanted to say something, to comfort her. The look in her eyes stopped him.

"I know you still have the nightmares, but I also know how important knowing about your family means to you, so"

She took another deep breath.

"So, if you want to find out more about your parents, meet your siblings, for you know closure and all that. I won't stop you, and I'll let you tell my mum and dad. You just do what you feel you must, okay?"

Alex smiled, got up from his seat and embraced her.

"Thanks"

Sabina laughed a little, she rested her head on his shoulder.

"It's okay, I knew you would do something without my blessing anyway"

She pulled out of the hug.

"Alright, enough of this sappy shit, we need to get to school"

Alex laughed at her behaviour, it was so like her to be a total sap one minute then try to pull the tough act less then a minute later.  
>Sabina grabbed her car keys and the two teenagers left the house.<p>

...Line Break...

The school day had been somewhat slow. Neither Faust nor John had shown up, which Alex was glad about; he did not want to have to explain last night's events. But something felt wrong, like the eerie calm before the storm.  
>Why aren't they here?<p>

Alex got the feeling that his friends had been questioning Ellie on the two of then ditching yesterday. She had to reassure him that they had never questioned him on his strange behaviour before; they weren't going to start now.

Alex had finished his after school detention. It had just gone five o'clock. He had begun to head for the exit when the sound of yelling took him in a different direction. Alex made his way through the labyrinth that was the school's many hallways, when he stopped just outside the admin area.

"_You can't tell me whether I can see him or not. He's my son too!"_

The voice was female; it reached right into the back of Alex's mind, reigniting some distant memory.  
>He knew that woman.<br>Alex moved quietly towards the voices, at the back of his mind he realised that one of the voices belonged to John.

_He's my son too._

Alex peeked around the corner to get a glance of the woman he knew was his mother.  
>Her blonde hair was a mess, like she had been running her hand through it repeatedly. Tears were streaming down her face. She looked like she was either going to break down completely or hit something, quite possibly John.<br>It felt like his heart was in his throat, all Alex wanted to do at that moment was run up to her and hug her, to stop her from crying, but he couldn't move. He was frozen where he was standing.  
>John wiped some tears away with his thumb.<p>

"You know why you can't, it's..."

Helen glared at him.

"It's too dangerous; yes you keep telling me that. It is always dangerous, it always has been dangerous. I've been living with dangerous since the day I met you, it was part of the fine print of dating a spy but I'm sick of self preservation when it leaves one of my kids in the firing line!"

Alex had only been standing there for a minute, but at that moment he had earned a permanent respect for the woman.  
>John looked like she had just hit him.<p>

"I thought he would be safe, I thought Ian would protect him, that it would put him a risk if we went back for him. It was better off that he thought us to be dead"

Helen clenched her fists.

"You thought wrong Jonathan, Ian would have never given it up not for anything. He thought of it as a game, he was just playing spy. Hell, I would bet a month's worth of pay that he took Alex along to missions, showed him the ropes of the family business"

She hit the target with that one. Alex could think of a least one occasion where he suspected he was actually on a mission with Ian. He was beginning to feel claustrophobic, he needed to leave, clear his head.  
>He quietly turned away and headed outdoors. The school had its own garage, filled with busted cars that the students who were mechanically inclined could fix as a subject choice.*<br>These were the vehicles that Oscar and Andi taught Alex on before he begun working for their father. The garage was where Alex worked best, he understood what he needed to do and the broken could almost always be fixed, there was no harm done if it couldn't.

Alex entered the garage; it was always left unlocked as there wasn't really anything worth stealing in comparison of the main building. Alex opened the bonnet of an old Nissan and got to work.

_Scorpia. Phoenix. MI6. The FBI. CIA. John and Helen Rider. Aiden and Marcus Evans. Cahil Faust. Ian, "getting old and hairy in the basement". Family extermination. Jack._

_How was he supposed to explain what happened to Jack to Ian?_

For the first time since Cairo, Alex felt out of his depth. He needed help, but Alex didn't know who to get it from.  
>Alex just concentrated on fixing the engine until he felt a presence behind him.<p>

"How long do you think you can keep this up kid?"

Faust's tone was sharp and cold. Alex turned to look at him. The man's eyes were filled with something between hatred and pity.

"Keep what up?"

Faust shook his head.

"This charade, the innocent school boy. You killed the last of that image last night kid, talking with assassins. You don't even know what you are doing, do you?"

Alex kept his face expressionless, refusing to give anything away.

"I'm trying to save a friend"

Faust regarded him, trying to decipher that sentence.

"If you weren't so annoying, I'd feel almost sorry for you. We have to contact the CIA to get any information on you. You've probably been raised around secrecy, Raised in a world of angels and devils, with no way to tell the difference. That's something I've noticed, just because you have a badge doesn't mean you're the good guy. Only God knows how many double agents there are working against their government"

Faust gave Alex a curious look.

"You're Chase's son aren't you?"

Alex didn't answer.  
>Cahil shook his head.<p>

"You poor bastard. The only reason we haven't taken you in yet is we couldn't pin you down. You didn't seem to have a motive. Then I discovered that you are the abandoned son of Mister Chase Evans, well that gives me a motive doesn't it?"

He sounded like he was trying to reassure himself, like he too, didn't completely understand what was going on.

"It's more complicated than that Faust, it's best if you just left it to me, as hard as that is to believe, it's the truth"

Faust smirked. On him it just looked wrong.

"Congratulations Alex, you sounded almost genuine"

Alex gave the man a somewhat desperate look.

"We are dealing with a feud that started before I was born, it started with a Rider, it needs to end with a Rider, simple as that, but the feud has had a lot of collateral damage. We don't need anymore"

Alex was thinking overtime on how to get himself out of the predicament he had found himself in. He still needed to get information on Ian's whereabouts, Walker's plan burned in his mind.  
>Alex was almost desperate enough to consider it.<p>

"You're being foolish Cahil, just leave it okay?"

Alex seemed to have struck a nerve. Faust's jaw tightened, fists clenched and his face was becoming quite red.

"_Foolish? _You impertinent brat, this is my case! I am not going to leave it in the hands of the main _suspect!" _

Alex growled.

"Then you are more of the idiot than I thought you were"

That was it.  
>Alex had ignited the short fuse that was Faust's anger and he was about to suffer the consequences.<br>A vein was visibly throbbing on Faust's forehead. He took an aggressive step forward. Alex put one foot back, putting himself in a balanced fighting stance.

_"Enough!" _ The voice cut sharply through the air "_Both of you!"_

John was standing in the entrance of the garage, Helen standing behind him. Her face was etched with confusion and concern. Alex gave her the cheekiest grin he could manage in his current situation. She smiled back at him.

"Care to explain what is going on here?"

"Not really" Alex muttered under his breath.

Faust gave him a dirty look.  
>Alex stared him down.<p>

"I was just getting a confession from the boy"

Alex laughed, short and tainted.

"Like hell you were, I need something to confess first"

John was looking between them. Not sure of what to make of the situation.

"Oh really, so what was all that about needing to save a friend, or an old feud that started with a Rider and needs to end with one. Or did you just make that up on the spot?

John looked at him, horrified.

"What is he talking about Alex?"

Alex gave him a bland look.

"You don't know? You should, you started it. I really hate scorpions, they are almost impossible to kill"

Alex smiled bitterly.

"But I managed it. I got rid of them, even their bitch of a queen. They hate me for it"

At that moment, it was easy to question his sanity. The look in his eyes was unsettling.  
>Only John seemed to really understand what he had said.<br>His face had paled dramatically.  
>Helen just watched the scene unfold, powerless to do anything.<br>Faust looked at him like he really had gone mad.

"What the hell are you on about boy? What would you know about any of this? You're just a child"

Alex laughed condescendingly.

"If I hadn't been a child I would never had pulled it off. After all who would suspect a fourteen year old? They had the same attitude as you Faust; he is just a kid it's not like he can do any damage. Well you'd think after being beaten three times and then disbanded they would have learnt their lesson"

Faust shook his head.  
>John looked like he was going to vomit.<p>

"Disbanded? What are you talking about? You suggesting that you defeated an organisation at the age of fourteen?"

Alex thought on this wondering how to proceed. He knew he shouldn't be saying all this but at the same time it just felt so good. He might as well put Walker's plan into action.

"Well actually it was about four months after my fifteenth birthday, but you get the general idea"

"What a load of bullshit. You are just a kid caught up in a world he was born into, a kid way over his head"

Alex couldn't argue with that.  
>Helen took a step forward but John grabbed her arm.<br>John was actually afraid that he would hurt her.

Faust continued,

"You walk around like you know more than what you do. You know nothing about what you preach. Saving a friend, collateral damage. You know nothing about bravery kid; you know nothing about sacrifice, losing something for a cause you don't quite understand. You. Know. Nothing!"

Alex froze, he suddenly felt very cold.  
>He saw John take an involuntary step back, pulling Helen with him.<p>

"_Faust, enough"_

"Don't you _dare _talk to me about sacrifice you oversized hobbit"

Alex's voice did not sound like his own, it was filled with so much venom and hatred, he scared himself.  
>It reminded him of Julius.<br>It made him feel physically sick.  
>A scared and horrified look crossed his mother's face, making him feel worse.<br>Faust however, seemed to be immune or just really stupid.

"Oh really, why not? Tell me what you have lost Alex, noting that your parents don't count because they chose to leave"

Alex snapped, it was quite possibly the first time he had ever completely lost his temper.  
>He saw red.<br>By the time he had thought 'this is a really bad idea' he had already slammed his fist into the man's jaw, feeling it crack.  
>Blood and spittle flew from his mouth.<p>

Faust crashed back into the bonnet of the Nissan, looking in a daze, not fully focused.

John shouted out but Alex move swiftly toward the fallen man, using the same graceful movements he had always connected to killers.

Alex grabbed Faust by the collar, yanked him upwards and then pushed him violently back against the side window, shattering the glass.

Alex punched him once, twice more in the face, when he felt strong arms pulling him back.

"Alex! _Stop!_"

Alex struggled against him, trying to free himself.

"_No! Let me go!"_

Alex tried to kicked back at the man, to hit his already injured knee but John moved 'round slightly.

John wrapped one arm tightly around Alex's waist, while the other held Alex's left arm behind his back.

A sharp pain travelled through Alex's arm and rested on his bullet wound.  
>Alex screamed.<p>

" John! _Stop! _You're hurting him!"

The call seemed distant in Alex's mind.  
>Alex thought he could hear sobbing.<p>

There was a click, and suddenly there was cold metal restraining his wrist.  
>John pulled Alex's other arm round, Alex twisted and fought back, completely unaware of the fact he was screaming and cursing, tears streaming down his face.<p>

"Alex you need to calm down, you're going to hurt yourself"

Once again Alex screamed out,

"_No!"_

He swung round and tried to punch John in the gut.  
>John caught him by the wrist, planted his knee into his back and pushed him to the ground.<br>There was a terrible thud as Alex collided with the concrete.  
>Alex was starting to feel light-headed and sick.<br>Out of the corner of his eye he could see Cahil on the ground, cradling his face with blood soaked hands.  
>Alex turned his head sharply the other way to see Helen on her knees, her hands covering her mouth, sobbing.<br>There was another click as his second wrist was restrained.  
>John removed his knee from Alex's back but he could still feel his hand resting there, almost comfortingly.<p>

"Alex you've given me no choice. You're under arrest for assaulting a federal agent"

Alex closed his eyes, wishing he could melt into the ground.

**An  
>Honestly, I hate it. Jean disagrees, she only hates the start of it.<strong>

*** Our school has one of these; then again our school has pretty much everything seeing, by American standards, we would be classed as a rural area.**

**Anyways it's nearly one in the morning and we are tired, so please let us know what you think of this.**

**-Jean & Diana**


	13. Saving The Paterfamlias: Part One

**An  
>Yeah another update. Sorry it didn't come sooner but we had assessments.<br>First, how many of you have seen Hunger Games? It's amazing!  
>Okay now we've said that we feel we should clarify some things.<br>The person who identifies themselves as Me mentioned that they didn't completely understand the timeline. The prologue is Thursday the 12****th ****of January; Ian got the next day's paper. John wasn't at work on the Friday because he was still moving in, the same day that Yassen visited Alex. Now it's the Tuesday, Monday was the day he eaves drops, tells Ellie everything and sees Walker. The story has happened over the course of five days (so far).  
>Something else, just a little reassurance for Evgenia.<br>When we first started Fanfiction we decided that we would not bring those died back for the dead without reasoning. (How they survived, what happened to them after etc) But we tweaked that idea a little. Because with imagination (and insanity) you can find reasoning for everything, though we had to be able to make a solid reason, have a lot of plausible background information that ties into the books. So you don't need to worry, we intend to make this story plausible which means no Jack, Ash etc.  
>One last thing, Coolio do you have an email we can contact you on because you have a lot of decent questions that we can't really answer through author's notes, also for casual chat as you seem to be quite talkative in your reviews.<strong>

**Okay you know the drill; massive author's note is redeemed with a massive chapter and dramatic disclaimer.**

**Disclaimer: -insert dramatic disclaimer here- (consider it disclaimed)**

Chapter Twelve

Saving the _Paterfamilias: _Part one

John stood quietly in the viewing room, next to his superior, Mitchell Talisman , observing two officials trying to get answers out Alex.  
>After he put Alex in cuffs, he hadn't said a word. He let John take him in, finger printing and all that but he refused to speak, not looking anyone in the eyes, acting like he had been given a lobotomy.<br>Completely emotionless.

"Before I hired you I made sure I understood your past and you promised that it would not interfere. I kept quiet about who you really are to keep you from the eyes of SO"

Talisman kept his eyes forward, he was probably in his late fifty's, early sixties, but the dim light made him look ancient.

"He is a lot like you"

John turned towards him.

"Sir?"

Talisman smiled at the officials fruitless attempts on Alex. John watched as Alex slightly tilted his head upward, looking them in the eyes, until they looked away from him first.

"Looking at him I can see you, not in looks however, but in attitude. I imagine, in different circumstances, the two of you would've been quite close"

John looked away from the window, a small lump forming in his throat.

"It's too late to know now"

Talisman regarded him.

"Something made the boy interfere with our case, to snoop around, trying to find answers before us. He got in contact with a former acquaintance of yours, never mind about him being an assassin. He then goes to a place that could get him killed; only Heaven knows why, but tells you to leave it to him, not to get involved.  
>I think the boy is trying to protect you from something, something about this case"<p>

John mulled over this for a minute.

"Maybe he just doesn't want anything to do with me"

"Or maybe he doesn't want to get attached only to lose his father again. He seems very wary of people. Probably has trust issues. But he knows something about this case that we don't; something that could get you and your family hurt, even killed. Before we proceed we need to know what that is."

John wondered how the man could get this impression of Alex when he hadn't heard him say a single word, never even having met him face to face.

"What should I do?"

"Talk to him. Completely undocumented, just a conversation between the two of you. Only I will be watching"

John nodded.

"Call the others out"

...

Alex was leaning against the back of his metal seat; head tilted back, eyes shut with his hands cuffed behind him attaching him to the seat. The seat itself was bolted to the floor.  
>Every piece of furniture in the room was bolted down.<br>John walked into the room quietly, observing the scene, wondering what he should do.

"If I remove the cuffs, can I trust they you won't attack me?"

Alex smirked but didn't open his eyes.

"I have no reason too, it ain't gonna get me out of here any quicker"

John nodded and removed Alex's handcuffs. He could feel Alex watching him. There were small cuts on his wrists; somewhere along the line of interrogation someone had done them back up too tight. John sat on the corner of the table next to him. Alex refused to look up.

"May I see your tattoo?"

Alex seemed to think on the request for a moment. He pulled up his sleeve and rested his arm on the table.  
>John examined the words under the scorpion, which he hadn't originally seen earlier. He partially recognised the saying.<p>

"What's the third word?"

Alex still didn't look at him.

"I came, I saw, I lived, I conquered. The exact order of events"

John felt sick at a sudden revelation.

"They tried to kill you"

Alex withdrew his arm.

"Technically, I did die. My age saved me...and a curb."

John had a feeling that he didn't need to ask what happened or where it happened.

"I had a nightmare early Monday morning, it strayed from the normal. Ash shot me in the chest, as I fell, the scene changed. I was on the footpath on Liverpool Street, bleeding to death, surrounded by people I didn't know. One teenager came out of the crowd and used his hands to stop the bleeding. He had brown eyes and a scorpion on his wrist"

Alex looked a little off colour, he met John's eyes.

"You bloody creeper, strangely prophetic though"

John smiled, causing crinkles to appear around his eyes.

"Yeah creepy, creeper reminds me about something Marcus was talking about, some game where his house got blown up. I don't understand it, everything is made of cubes"

Alex laughed, a genuine laugh.

"It's called Minecraft, my mate Oscar plays it, and it's not about the quality of the graphics it's about the quality of the game"

John couldn't help but to smile again, Alex was echoing his brother.

"Marcus told me the same thing" John felt his smile waver "What are you doing Alex? You could be charged with assaulting a FBI official"

Alex shrugged.

"Stole a four story crane once, but that's a story for another time. The point is that I can't be charged with anything, it's kinda like I have some kind of immunity. How is Cahil anyway?"

John was still reeling from the crane comment, he barely noticed the question.

"What possessed you to steal a crane?" John shook his head "Never mind..."

Alex chuckled.

"Cahil is going to be fine, just in a lot of pain"

Something akin to guilt crossed Alex's face.

"What's the damage?"

John sighed and ran his fingers through his hair.

"Busted nose, cracked ribs, some bruising on his spine. You definitely got a mean right hook on you"

Alex looked down into his lap.

"Ian taught me, he also took me to my first karate lesson when I was six. We used to spar in the backyard"

John looked away not really wanting to ask the next question.

"When did he die?"

Alex shook his head.

"I don't think he did, but he disappeared when I was fourteen. Became property of Mr Grey and Madam Peppermint after that"

John stayed quiet for a moment, trying to decipher what he meant.

"Blunt and Jones?"

Alex nodded.

"Ash is dead though, saw it happen, he became a scorpion shortly after Malta"  
>Alex paused<br>"He put the bomb on your plane"

John snapped around to look at Alex. How did he know about Malta?

"_What?"_

Alex went silent, pursing his lips.

"I think it's time for you to ask me the questions you came in here to ask me John" _  
><em>

John knew he was right, but he wanted to know how much Alex knew about his past.

John sighed.

_I guess that will have to wait_

"While we're here, my name is Chase Evans and I suggest you call me by my surname not my first. Understand?"

Alex mumbled something; John decided to take that as a yes.

"What do you know about this case that we don't and why don't you want me involved?"

Alex rubbed the sores on his wrists, refusing to look at him again.

"Can I please make a call first; my foster parents should know what happened other than that I punched a cop"

"FBI official"

Alex furrowed his eyebrows.

"There's nothing official about Faust, and they're the same thing"

John strained a laugh.

"Not exactly"

"Can I call them or not?"

John examined Alex's face; there was something else that he was hiding.

"I want my answer first"

Alex met his gaze, something strong in his eyes.

"And I want my call"

John took a deep breath, trying not to get angry.

"What are you trying to hide Alex?"

Alex's jaw tightened.

"If you just let me handle it you wouldn't have to worry"

John stood up and looked down at Alex.

"Have to worry about what? You went to the bar to get some answers and you didn't like what you found out, what do you know? You don't have to do it alone"

Alex crossed his arms and turned his body away from him.

"I've been doing it alone for the past sixteen years, I needed help back then, I don't need it now"

Guilt slammed into John's gut making him feel ill.

"You had Ian"

Alex gave a humourless laugh.

"He was too busy playing Bond; he would just leave me with babysitters, if he or the Powers remembered to call one"

John noticed that Alex was blinking a lot, trying to hold back tears.  
>He knelt down beside him.<p>

"Alex..."

Alex stood up and glared at him.

"Don't _Chase_, just don't. Don't tell me you're sorry; don't tell me that you regret what you did, because at the time that is what you wanted to do. It was your choice, you _chose _to leave"

His words mirrored what Cahil had told Alex earlier, the words that caused him to snap.  
>They cut into John like knives. Alex took a deep breath.<p>

"Just do me one favour, just one. Don't dig any deeper into this case, leave it to me, because if you do, it will end badly. Don't let Marcus and Aiden be fatherless too!"

John could feel his hands shaking. With what he wasn't too sure.

"And what about you? If I am at risk of being killed then what about you?"

Alex lifted his head, his jaw tight.

"If it goes wrong, I don't have to worry about collateral damage. I have no family"

John looked away, pained.

"I'll go talk with my superior, get you that phone call"

John didn't look back at Alex, he turned and exited. Once in the viewing room he slammed his fist into the wall, splitting a knuckle. He wanted to break down right there, Talisman was looking at him.

"Can you please get him his phone call? I need fresh air"

He didn't wait for an answer, he just left.

...Line Break...

Alex didn't see John once as he was led through the corridors and then cuffed to a phone.  
>He knew what he had said had hurt him; he could see it on the man's face.<br>Alex felt really guilty, even though what he said was partially true, there were times in Alex's life when he did feel completely alone and abandoned, but he knew that John only did what he did to try and protect him.

Alex really needed to get this over with before it gets even more emotionally damaging.  
>There was only one guard, after all Alex was attached to the booth; the man wasn't even looking at him. It was because of his own actions that he learnt not to underestimate anyone. Alex punched in a number and listened to the dial tone.<p>

_"Hello?"_

Alex sighed in relief that the number worked.

"Walker, I need help"

_"You need to work on your greetings Alex, what do you need help with?"_

"I'm in FBI custody"

_"What!" _Walker yelled through the phone.

Alex took his ear away from it, hissing. The guard looked over at him smirking, probably mistook that yell as an angry parent not a surprised and pissed off assassin. Alex gave him a wolf stare; the man shook his head smiling and looked away again.  
>Alex brought the phone back up to his ear.<p>

"That was unnecessary, my ear is ringing now"

_"What exactly do you think I can do Alex? I'm not a miracle worker, I'm an assassin. One step in that place and I'm dead"_

Alex ran his hand through his hair, part of his mind that was a little off task noted that it was probably a trait that he got from John.

"You were with the CIA for five years, can you just walk in and pretend you're still an agent. I mean I'm the teenager that beat the shit out of an FBI official, who has the Scorpia symbol on his wrist, the appearance of the CIA won't be a shock for them, they had to contact Bryne anyway to try and get my file. You could just say it's a matter of international security and I need to be put into appropriate custody"

_"That front won't last long"_

"I don't need it to"

Alex heard a crackle at the other end of the phone and took it as Walker sighing.

_"Where are you exactly?"_

Alex did a quick scan of the area.

"The FBI's interrogation rooms, north wing, currently cuffed to a phone booth"

_"Know the area, broke out of it once, a very long time ago"_

The guard turned to look at Alex; he tapped his wrist, telling him to hurry up.

"How did you do it?"

_"Well if my memory serves me well, do you see a fuse box next to the booth, its locked shut"_

Alex eyed the silver box on the wall next to him.

"How does that help me?"

_"Underneath the box there is a small pin like key taped down, great for picking locks on cuffs"_

Alex cradled the phone between his head and shoulder while he reached underneath the fuse box and grabbed the key. He turned his back to the guard so he couldn't see Alex struggle with his cuffed hand. There was a satisfying click and the metal fell from his wrist and hung on the booth.

"Now what?"

Alex was sure he could hear Walker laugh.

_"Kill the power, the phone will cut out at the same time, I'll be there soon, use the flashdrive I gave you"_

"Okay, see you soon"

Alex slammed his hand on the phone hook, ending the conversation, but kept the phone at his ear so it looked like he was still talking. He fiddled with the lock on the fuse box trying not to cause too much noise. He opened it and stared at the mess of wires and switches.  
>He looked behind him.<br>The guard was looking away.  
>Alex grabbed a fist full of wires and tore them out, then ran his hand up across the board, hitting all the switches. Everything went dark except the fire exit lights above doors.<p>

"Oi!"

The guard came at him; Alex smashed the palm of his hand under the man's earlobe, knocking him out cold. He hit the ground with a loud thud.  
>Alex turned and tore up the corridor, looking for an office with a laptop.<p>

**An  
>Sorry we had to cut it short, being sent to bed.<br>We will put up part two in a couple of days, till then enjoy.**

**-Jean & Diana**


	14. Saving The Paterfamlias: Part Two

**An  
>Wow has it been a couple of days already! Just kidding, sorry for taking so long to update, we were hoping to update before the Easter break because we had Eastercamp (which was amazing) <strong>.com/watch?v=6bnQSJx-WHw .com/watch?v=S8Eqp0qGHzw **, we aren't sure if the links** **will work or not but if they don't look up Eastercamp 2012 highlights on youtube and Eastercamp 2012 Call me maybe, just to show you the random shit that goes down at EC.  
>Oh and AlexRiderForever pointed something out, in chapter eleven (?) we said that Sabina was fully dressed for school, all we can say about that is oops.<br>Another question that needs answering, we don't know how many chapters there is going to be, we just write our story in suitable pieces and see how far it goes. Estimate would be around about twenty, we are about half way through the plot.  
>One more thing, Coolio at first we were worried about you posting us your email in the reviews for everyone and their mum's to see but then we realised it doesn't matter because it don't work, just so you know we weren't cold shouldering you.<strong>

**Disclaimer: You know once you start writing the 'fourteenth' you start running out of clever and witty disclaimers, so consider it disclaimed.**

Chapter Thirteen  
>Saving the <em>Paterfamilias<em>, Part Two

Alex realised, half way through his running exit that finding a working computer in a power-outage was very slim; it was probably just as difficult as running through a rat maze of corridors in darkness whilst being tracked by Federal agents and running into office workers.

Just as doubt was beginning to set itself inside Alex's chest, a dull blue glow caught his eye. Alex stopped himself in mid-stride, causing a young woman to crash into the back of him; she cursed and cast him a foul look before losing herself amongst the madness.

Alex made his way right, carefully dancing around the masses, not wanting to bring himself to anymore attention. The light was coming from a small Acer laptop in one of the rectangle cubicles.

The halogen lights flickered above him as the back-up power was trying; and failing to come on. Alex reached forward and pulled the brown, leather computer chair towards him and then promptly sat down. He wheeled himself closer to the desk, catching his big toe on the filing cabinet in the process.

Alex hissed, and bit his tongue to keep himself from swearing out-loud.  
>The laptop's power symbol was blinking orange, indicating the battery was low; the blue light was coming from the very dim screen.<br>Alex ran his finger along the mouse pad, the screen lit up only slightly, then a message popped up informing him that he had ten minutes to find a new power source.  
>This time Alex did swear, anyone with a laptop knew that this really meant he had only three minutes...at the most. He dug into his pocket and brought out a small red USB drive, its programming would automatically download the information he needed surrounding his uncle, one could only hope that the system had something on him.<br>Alex plugged it in and a downloading bar appeared, names of files quickly passing above it.

"Come on" Alex muttered under his breath. His leg began twitching and bouncing under the desk in his impatience.  
>There was the sound of shouting as someone barked orders to 'find the kid' from the corridor opposite him. Alex ducked down in his seat, hoping that the cubicle walls were tall enough to hide his head.<p>

"Hurry up"  
>Alex kept up his chant, sending motivational comments to the Acer.<br>The lights came back on and sirens began to blare around the building.

Five agents entered the room, Alex tilted his head upwards, peering over the walls, all of them were armed.

Alex ducked back down, shrinking as low as he possibly could.

The laptop blinked, stating that download was complete, and then the screen faded out to black.

_Thank the Lord for small miracles._

Alex reached forward to retrieve the USB when the laptop blared with the typical Windows shutting down medley.

Alex jumped in his seat; he yanked the USB out of the port, shoved it back into his pocket and slammed the laptop lid shut.

_Forget about small miracles, You were just messing with me, weren't you?_

Alex stood up and turned to run out the room when the five agents suddenly blocked his escape route, glaring down at him.

Alex stepped back slightly, letting out a nervous chuckle.

"Oh, hey"

The largest of the agents grabbed him with iron fists and dragged him back by the collar towards the interrogation rooms.

...Line Break...

John knew that Alex had escaped the moment the lights went out; at that moment he realised he had just been played. Any sadness or guilt he had felt earlier had been replaced with raw anger. Alex knew what buttons to press to get his freedom; John wondered how much of what Alex had said was true.

John paced through the corridors, carefully but quickly making his way through the darkness. He found himself in the main offices where Talisman was organising a search party.

"How did he escape? Who was watching him?"

John's voice cut through the chaos, everyone turned to look at him.  
>The look on John's face clearly showed his fury. One man spoke up.<p>

"He picked his cuffs, not sure what with, and took out the fuse box. The agent who was watching him is on his way to the infirmary, he is out cold"

John grimaced. He underestimated Alex and was now paying the price.

"Well find him, he cannot leave this building. Stay in groups, it is clear that he is dangerous"

Wordlessly the agents scattered in groups of four or five.  
>The lights flickered.<p>

Talisman gave him a side-ways look.

"For how long have you had more authority than me?"

John gave him a bitter smirk.

"Never, I'm just scarier"

John sat down in a computer chair, for some reason the shabby, brown colour made him more frustrated. He could feel the anger slowly draining out of him, leaving behind a strange sense of emptiness and betrayal.

"I can't believe he played me like that, and so easily"

Talisman frowned a little.

"Alex is definitely an interesting case; quite manipulative and persuasive for his age. Not like anyone his age or like any man I've seen interrogated for that matter. He must have learnt it from somewhere. Certainly knows what strings to pull to get his way, to get under your skin, and his answers just leave you with more questions"

John snorted.

"Amen to that"

John thought back to what Alex had said about being property of Alan Blunt and Mrs Jones, neither one of them had been Head of Operations when he had left but there were rumours of Blunt coming into power, John could only assume that they were true.

Blunt and Jones had, had the same way of words that Alex carried. He must've learnt it from them but the amount of time Alex must've spent in their presence to learn such a skill disturbed him and at what cost to Alex.

_How did he know about Malta? Wasn't that classified in the highest level? Blunt would never give such knowledge to someone so young, no matter what their connection. He especially wouldn't give it to someone who wasn't a decent agent._

A sudden, horrifying thought dawned on him.

'_Became property of Mr Grey and Madam Peppermint after that'_

They wouldn't make a child work for them...would they? Surely not, they wouldn't leave the fate of the country on the shoulders of a fourteen year old...would they?

John tried to block the thought out of his mind but the seed of doubt had already been planted.

The sirens brought him back to the present, along with the realisation that he was sitting directly underneath one. He jumped a mile out of his chair, holding his head in between his forearms, his hands laced together on the back of his skull.

"Araagh! Bloody Hell!"

At that moment he realised that the lights had switched back on also.  
>Talisman also winced at the sudden screeching that echoed around the building.<p>

"Now the power is back, I will contact Bryne again; see if I can get any answers about that boy of yours"

A door crashed open, as five agents marched in, one of them holding Alex, quite tightly, by the back of his neck and forearm, forcing Alex to tilt his neck in an uncomfortable looking angle. It made him look like a naughty kitten; if only he was as innocent.

The surge of anger John had felt earlier returned with a vengeance, he glared down at him, Alex seemed to wither and shrink under his gaze, he offered John a tiny sideways smile that quickly vanished when his expression didn't change.

"Cuff him to the table, both hands, much sure he doesn't get out of them"

The agent holding him shoved Alex down roughly into a seat, causing Alex to wince slightly. The agent next to him yanked his arms back to cuff them together.

Alex shrieked in pain, he removed his right hand from the man's grip and used it to massage his left shoulder. At first John thought he might've been acting again but the pain in his eyes was real and so were the tears rimming them. The agent growled and pulled his arm back again. Alex choked a little, his features pulled tightly together.

John made some kind of animalistic growl in the back of his throat, that he, himself couldn't identify.

"Be more careful, would you. You're obviously hurting him!"

Alex whimpered.

The man muttered something that John's ears missed but Alex's face twisted into something else and glared at the man.

"Prick"

There was an audible click as Alex's wrists were cuffed together, Alex stifled a yelp giving John the knowledge that the cuffs were done too tightly. Another set of cuffs attached him to the desk behind him.  
>Alex looked up at John.<p>

"Now what?"

The lack of emotion in his voice snapped the anger raging inside John. He took an aggressive step forward, Alex's eyes widen as he did so, automatically bracing himself the best he could. He clipped Alex around the back of the head roughly with his hand. Alex's head jerked forward slightly.

"Oww" Something in Alex's voice died his anger down.

John took a step back and slumped in his chair, rubbing the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger.

"What was that earlier about not hurting the kid?"

John and Alex gave the agent identical glares.

"Don't you have somewhere else to be?" The words came out in unison; John's said sharply, Alex's muttered but both audible.

Both males froze as did the agent.

John could feel Alex staring at him. John was the first to recover and straightened up in his seat.

"Well?"

All five agents who brought Alex in left the room, not quite running but not walking either.

Talisman chuckled.

"Told you he was a lot like you"

Alex looked at the man with sudden interest.

"Wait what?"  
>Alex gave John a genuinely confused look.<br>It gave him an amused feeling.

Talisman stood and turned to walk out.

"Wait" Alex called out to him.

Talisman stopped and looked at him.

John did also.

"Where are you going?" The curiosity in his voice was very childlike, it took John by surprise.

Talisman smiled at Alex and gave John a subtle wink.

"I'm going to contacted the Head of the CIA, see if they can tell just who you are"

Alex paused; he had a contemplative look on his face.

Talisman chuckled again and began to stride off.

"He won't tell you but give Joe my kind regards anyway, haven't seen him in _ages_"

The exaggeration of the word 'ages' was also very childlike but it caused Talisman to freeze, John felt himself stiffen also.

John looked at him intensely, Alex smiled back.

A part of him realised that Alex was trying to get under his skin again, the other part suddenly haunted again by his previous thought.

Talisman's face lost any expression.

"What do you mean you haven't seen him in ages, you know him?"

Alex frowned slightly, John realised that he did that whenever he was thinking carefully.

"Well yeah, Bryne is pretty cool, a lot nicer than Blunt and Jones, although Blunt isn't a problem anymore" Alex paused, mulling over his words. "Wait, no, that sounds bad, I mean he was sacked, forced into early retirement. Anyway he also isn't as manipulative as Ethan Brooke so overall Bryne is pretty cool"

John's head felt like it had been invaded by wasps.

Talisman frowned.

"What?"

"Who is Ethan Brooke?" John cut in.

Alex looked at him, a small triumphant smile on his face.

"You don't know him? Seriously? He is the Head of the ASIS, that's Australian secret service"

John growled.

"I know who the ASIS are"

Talisman took a careful step forward.

"Alex, how do you know these people?" His voice was very measured.

_I think I know._

The idea of Alex being used by the Secret Services grew in strength, taunting him.

_Please lord, tell me they didn't._

No answer is a stern reply.

Alex looked at his feet.

"I should probably shut up now"

Talisman nodded to himself.

"I'm calling Bryne, Chase try and get some answers out of the boy, that's an order"

With that Talisman swiftly left the room, leaving John and Alex alone.

The silence was murderous.

John stared at Alex, watching him fidget under his gaze but refusing to look up.  
>John was about to break the silence when an agent walked in.<p>

"There is a member of the CIA here to collect the boy"

"What?"

He looked down at Alex who had suddenly become very still.

"I need to consult Talisman about this"

The agent shook his head and cast a glance at Alex.

"He has the paperwork, says the boy needs to be in appropriate custody"

John was stunned, confusion clearly written on his face.

"_Appropriate Custody? _The FBI isn't appropriate custody?"

The agent looked unnerved; he kept fidgeting, his eyes constantly flicking from John to Alex.  
>Alex gave a short, nervous laugh.<p>

"I may have caused some trouble in the past, if they have reason to believe I've gone rogue again, they have a tendency to lock me up"

John couldn't think straight, something in his gut told him there was something wrong here.

"Again?" He turned to the agent "Keep an eye on him; don't let him go until I get the all clear from Talisman"

The agent nodded. John got up from his seat and headed to the video conference room, leaving the agent and Alex alone.

...Line Break...

As soon as John was out of sight the agent acted. He removed Alex's cuffs quickly and threw them in the corner of the cubicle. He grabbed Alex's arms and pulled him to his feet.

"We don't have that much time, Walker is waiting in the reception with a few others"

Alex looked at the door John had left through and then back at the man.

"Who did he bring?"

The man just shook his head. He grabbed hold of Alex's shoulder and steered him out of the room.

Alex didn't give any eye contact to anyone as he was lead through the corridors; he just kept his head down as the agent directed him through the right doors.

The reception was bustling with people, phones were ringing and people were talking over each other. Alex looked at the clock above one of the desks.  
>Fifteen past Five.<br>The work day had finished for most inside the building, now they were clocking out. Perfect timing on Walker's behalf.

Said man was leaning against a wall, watching people as they left the building. His arms were crossed. A fair haired man was next to him as was Amanda.  
>Alex cursed under his breath. That woman had her own agendas, Alex only hoped that Walker's orders meant enough to her to not cause trouble.<p>

"Alexander!"

The voice called from behind him. Walker looked up as did Alex. John was staring at him, then he and Walker shared eye contact. John's eyes widen, he must of recognised him from the pub.

"Shit, Alex don't!"

As soon as those words were spoken all hell broke loose. Suddenly both men were armed, Alex was pulled behind Walker. Around him more people were bringing out their own guns. An older man dropped his cell and pulled a pistol from his hip; as the phone crashed onto the ground, Alex realized it was a fake. Two agents, who had been making their way out the building, crouched down, bringing out their weapons; aiming them at the sudden enemy. Even a young receptionist had pulled out a small pistol and was pointing it at John. It was like a cowboy stand off from an old Clint Eastwood film.  
>Only now did Alex realize how much planning had gone into getting him out.<p>

Amanda grabbed Alex by his hair pulling him close. A familiar cold feeling of a gun barrel was pressed into his neck where one would check for a pulse. If someone was to check Alex's now they would note how vey rapid it was.

"Now, now Hunter, lets not be rash" She paused and stroked Alex's cheek with her thumb, "We wouldn't want anyone to be hurt now, would we?"

Her voice was filled with fake concern, her tone cold and cutting. John took a cautious step forward, Alex felt the gun dig in deeper, he unwillingly yelped, the unnatural coldness of the weapon somehow burning him at the same time. John froze, his eyes never leaving Alex's.

Alex could see worry and fury in them.

"_Amanda"_Walker hissed behind her. She ignored him. Alex could feel her heart beat against his back; it was as rapid as his own. Her breathing was slow.

"That's cute, the worried father trying to protect his cub" She chuckled at the joke that only Alex would understand. It seemed that the rest of the room was holding its breath as a third party and agenda had revealed itself.

"Though I don't think it is the Cub you should be worrying about. Tell me John, have you spoken to your brother lately?"

In the corner of his eye, Alex saw Walker's face lighten with realisation.

"Amanda! That's enough, let him go, we need to leave"

John took another small step forward; his eyes had gone cold and calculating. A shadow of the spy he once was.

He gave Alex a look that clearly said "_What the hell were you thinking!"_

Alex tried sending him an apologetic look but thinking was getting more difficult as the tension in the room expanded with every second that past; thickening the air. You could hear a pin drop.

Ten more men entered the room, one of them Alex recognised from earlier, he was the older man who was going to call Bryne. It took two seconds for the realisation to kick in; eyes widening, they ducked to the ground. The tension was broken by a gunshot.

From which party the bullet came from, Alex didn't know.

Someone screamed, everyone scattered finding cover. Amanda threw Alex to the ground, there was a crack as he smacked his head on the marble floor, dots and colours danced in front of his eyes. Two more shots sounded, followed by four more from a different party.

The receptionist went down a bloody fountain erupting from her neck; as she fell one last shot fired from her gun, chipping the marble millimetres from Alex's hand.

Ignoring his thumping head, Alex rolled across the ground and slid underneath a desk.

His hand was stinging, Alex examined it for a moment; around the corner, someone emptied their clip, three more people went down; one smacking his head on the corner on Alex's desk. Alex had marble splinters in his left hand and was bleeding sluggishly. Alex peered out to watch the massacre; he could see John on the other side of the foyer, using an overturned filing cabinet as a shield, ducking behind it every time he needed to reload. Alex watched, hypnotised in horror and awe as none of his shots missed. A startling moist* feeling touched his leg. Alex looked down holding back a scream as someone else's blood began to pool around him. A hand pulled on his shoulder; Alex swung round and punched his attacker blindly. The man swore and ducked.

"Alex it's just me" Walker's voice grounded Alex again but his stomach still felt like a mosh pit.

Walker gently pulled Alex out but keeping low.

The exit was on the other side of the warzone, an older woman dropped dead at his feet, making Alex jump back; Walker yanked him back, an involuntary whimper creeped out of Alex's throat.

"Just stay close, okay Alex?" Walker's voice sounded far away but Alex could feel him next to him.

Alex forced himself to nod.

_Come on Alex, sort your shit out, now is not the time to freeze._

Alex inhaled deeply.

"Lets go" Alex was trying to sound brave but his voice couldn't reach any higher than a whisper; his throat was beginning to burn.

_No! Now is not the time to throw up either._

Alex half walked and was half dragged across the devastation. Walker pulled him underneath the reception desk as two bullets buried themselves in the wall next to them.

Alex turned his head slightly around the corner to see Amanda prowling her way towards John; his back turned, in his own one on one battle with one of Walker's men.

She raised her gun, a smile playing on her lips.

John turned round at the last second to reload. He froze, anger slid across his features before becoming a blank mask.

She said something; Alex could just make out the words.

_Goodbye John._

Alex reached for the fallen receptionist's pistol and prayed to whomever that was watching that it was loaded.

He stood up and fired.

Two shots rang out, some how louder than the rest, with a sense of finality.

Amanda crumpled to the ground, a hole to the back of the head. John clutched the side of his arm. He looked at Alex with horror.

Before Alex could comprehend what had just happened, Walker grabbed him again and they bolted out the door.

Alex let the pistol fall from his hands, echoing as it hit the pavement.

They continued to run until the building disappeared from view.

**An**

***Gah! The word Moist, how we hate that word, say it with us. Moist. Disgusting word, moist, it even sounds gross, makes us cringe.**

**Constructive criticism for us is a blessing, so if there is something with the tense for example (we are really bad with that) please mention it, it helps.**

**Anyway, hope this makes up for the wait. Don't know when we will update next, we are going to stop putting in estimates, we always disappoint.**  
><strong>On another note, we are half way through the plot, kinda, we are at the bit where shit starts to come together, which also means we are nearly done! Already thinking of sub stories and one shots but don't really see a sequel happening. But once this is complete we can finish Birthday Wishes.<strong>

**Until next time,**

**-Jean & Diana**


	15. It's In His Blood

**An  
>You know, Jean and I were reading the paper (as you do) and there is this heading for horse show jumping saying 'Riders Rise To Challenge', we looked at each other and realise that we really need to update.<br>Also, is it just us or did we get our first flame? If so, are we supposed to be somewhat insulted? Because in all honesty we could not stop laughing when we read it. We got the feeling that it was written by someone who thinks of Alex as some type of god that cannot be touched or harmed.  
>However, we don't write for fan girls, technically we don't even write for all you lovely people, we write to practice writing and to become familiar with our writing style as we plan to publish a book one day.<br>Yashendra made a comment on how we were making Alex too much of the bad guy. I can see where you're coming from but most of the chapter was written in John's PoV so that was kind of the point.  
>Anyways, on with the story.<strong>

**Disclaimer: Unfortunately we do not own Alex Rider, but one can wish.**

Chapter Fourteen  
>"It's In His Blood"<p>

The sense of betrayal was almost tangible amongst the survivors of the bloodbath. No one could have known that there were so many sleeper cells inside the agency.  
>Work mates, friends.<br>People they had trusted.  
>John felt it in the air as the last of the bodies were bagged up and taken away. This is a day that would not be forgotten easily.<br>A paramedic was bandaging his arm. That woman, Amanda, still managed to pull the trigger as she went down. But her aim was off, the bullet sliced passed his right arm, leaving a decent cut. It would scar, he didn't need stitches though.  
>John could not get that image out of his head.<br>The spray of blood and brain matter. The woman crumpling, still smiling. Alex with the gun in hand. That moment of brief eye contact before the assassin pulled him away. Silence.  
>Alex had killed her. To save him.<br>The paramedic stuck on the last of the bandage tape and left without a word.

"Evans!"

John swung 'round to his alias, Talisman waved him over. There were two others with him.  
>John got up from his position on the floor and made his way over to him.<p>

"Sir?"

Talisman gently grasped John's shoulder, pulling him aside, with their backs turned from the other agents.

"There has been a breach; I think Alex stole some files. This might have been pre planned"

John stared at him, shock, clear as day, splayed across his face.

"_What?"_

In that moment, before Talisman could continue, *three black cars with tinted windows pulled up outside the building. A total of eight men got out. Seven of them dressed in dark suits and black shades.  
>CIA.<br>Two men stood guard at the entrance. The rest entered with the eighth man.  
>He was dark skinned, in his mid sixties, white hair and a moustache. He was also wearing a dark suit. He was clearly the boss.<br>He walked straight up to Talisman, obviously knowing he was in charge.

"Talisman, tell me what the hell happened here" He paused and regarded John, looking him over.  
>A scowl appeared on his face.<p>

"You're supposed to be dead"

The sentence was delivered coldly, cutting like a knife, as if John had personally insulted him with his presence.

"_Excuse me?"_

The man's eyes narrowed.

"You are Alex Rider's father, you look quite alike, I also knew your brother"

John was stunned. He didn't know what to say. He looked over to Talisman, who was taking in the scene unfolding before him in silence.

"We should talk about this elsewhere, come with me to my office, both of you. And Byrne leave your men out here. This does not concern them"

Byrne. Suddenly John knew how dire the situation was. At the mention of Alex being arrested, Joseph Byrne, the Head of the Covert Actions Division of the CIA decided to make a personal visit.

The three of them entered Talisman's office. Despite the fact there were enough chairs, no one sat. Byrne was still giving John sideways looks.

"Tell me what happened here Mitchell"

Talisman did just that, starting from when they first had suspicions about Alex, John filled in details where he could, talking about the nightclub and naming names.  
>Byrne took it all in silence, the ever present frown deepening on his face.<p>

"I see. Yes I know Walker, he was originally one of mine but joined Scorpia over seven years ago for the pay rise" He shook his head "Alex would've met him when he was on Malagosto" 

John made a choking noise at the back of his throat.

"When did he even go to Malagosto! " He turned towards Byrne and looked him right in the eye.

"How do you even know him?"

Talisman eyes flicked over to Byrne awaiting an answer for that million dollar question. Byrne's face remained impassive but his eyes showed that he was uncomfortable.

Anger filled John; he knew the answer, even if the other man planned to deny it. Yes, John knew the answer very well.

"You've been using him, haven't you?" John could barely keep his voice steady; really it wasn't even a question. Byrne didn't drop his gaze but John saw the hesitation in the man's eyes, it lasted only briefly.

"Come on John, really? Alex is just a teenager; there is no way the CIA would..." John cut Talisman off with a pointed look.

"With all due respect sir, I wasn't asking you" John turned his gaze back to Byrne. "You have, haven't you?"

The CIA director regarded John for a moment, John couldn't pinpoint what it was exactly but there was something about the man that unnerved him, he looked at him like he was convicting him of something.

Byrne sighed, suddenly looking exhausted.

"John you must understand that with your current _status_"_. _Byrne stressed the word status, John got the feeling that the man didn't know what to make of his sudden resurrection; he was certainly less then impressed with him. "Inside the FBI you no longer have the authorisation to such information; I can neither confirm nor deny the idea that Alex has ever worked for us"

John swore at the man, he ignored Talisman's disapproving look.

"That is a load of shit, he's my son, I deserve to kno..."

Byrne cut him off with a single hand gesture, his hand slicing through the air like he was cut off the words hanging in the air.

"As far as I'm concerned John, I don't owe you nor do you deserve anything and I believe you cut off all parental contact with Alex the day you left him in Chelsea with your brother"

And there it was, John finally understood Byrne's dislike towards him, he was accusing him of abandonment and apparently that didn't sit well with the man.

"And John" John forced himself to look at the man as civilly as possible, there was a strange light of pride in the older man's eyes and John knew it wasn't directed at him.

"Alex is the most extraordinary teenager I've ever had the privilege of meeting, he has never backed down from a fight, even when the worst has happened. He will keep fighting until he wins" He paused, his eyes darkening "I need to know what files were compromised, then we may know Alex's agenda"

Talisman nodded , he brought out a key from around his neck and unlocked a large filing cabinet , he flicked passed a couple of folders before he brought out a thick file.

"The most important cases we keep locked away just as in case of a breach in security, call me old John but I don't completely trust the technology these days"

Talisman removed the papers from the folder and spread them out on his desk like a dealer spreading cards, ready to shuffle them.  
>Across the desk there were pictures of men, soldiers by the look of them, what looked to be hand written notes, emails and various other reports.<p>

"Three weeks ago, men started to go missing. Not just any middle class worker however, soldiers, marines, FBI and CIA agents, ten totalled so far. All of them taken from their homes. No one admitted to the kidnappings nor has there been any trace of them" He paused "until recently, a few days ago I received a call from a contact in the criminal underground. He had found them, he had found all and I quote "_All eleven of those missing military bastards", _I thought he was trying to get a bit of money of us with false information, as there was only ten missing. But he insisted, he had been to where they were being kept, and there were eleven of them caged up, the one unknown man had been there a lot longer than the rest. Three years longer to be exact, 'bout mid forties, fair haired, and he happens to be British"

Talisman glanced at John then looked back at Byrne.

"An hour before Alex's arrest, we were sent images from what seemed to be security cameras"

This time he looked John right in the eye

"John, the eleventh man was confirmed as Ian Rider, your brother, a man that was confirmed KIA over nearly three years ago. Some how Alex found out, I think he is going after him"

It sounded like the man had only worked it out on the spot but the pieces clicked together and John finally saw the picture for the first time. Alex had lost the man that raised him, now he wasn't missing his chance to get him back and he was going to go through and exhaust every option to make it happened.  
>John noticed that Byrne looked worried, really worried.<p>

"He should've just come to me instead. He is going to get himself killed, there are too many unknown factors; he might as well be running into a minefield"

John didn't know what to make of the man's obvious concern for his son but he wasn't going to complain. The Head of the CIA wasn't a bad ally for Alex to have.  
>Something was nagging in the back of his mind however, how were the other men involved? Why were they taken? Something much bigger was going on than a simple rescue mission on Alex's part. John needed those questions answered and he knew exactly where to get them.<br>The same place Alex got his.  
>He voiced his idea to the two older men.<p>

Talisman's eyebrows drew together in thought, Byrne nodded slowly to himself.

"Talisman" Byrne voice brought the man out of his train of thought. The atmosphere in the room seemed to change as well. The sense of professionalism had returned and it had come back with a plan of action.

"Sir"

"Set up three teams of both CIA and FBI operatives, brief them. If we're to raid this place we need to be quick, if not they will gain the upper hand. Every man and woman is that building will be questioned, have them do whatever is necessary to get answers"

Talisman nodded.

"Yes sir"

Talisman quickly left the office, Byrne turned to John.

"This is your operation Rider, don't screw up"

"Understood sir"

Byrne turned to follow Talisman out of the door when John stopped him.

"Sir, why would Alex go to so much trouble to save Ian?"

Byrne regarded him, a flicker of a smile crossing his lips.

"Because he is a Rider, John, it's in his blood"

Byrne turned away again and left John alone in the room. John used the office's phone to call Helen, letting her know of the current operation, that he might not be home tonight.  
>When he hung up, he was filled with a new confidence. He was no longer hiding. He back in the fight.<br>John Rider was back. And this time he wasn't leaving.

...Line Break...

Alex was sitting down with his back against the ally wall, knees drawn into his chest, watching traffic pass by. Walker was a couple of metres away from him yelling into his cell phone.  
>Alex felt ill, he had killed Amanda. He had done it so instinctively, so quickly, she didn't stand a chance.<br>John would be dead if he hadn't. That's what he kept telling himself, no one was going to really miss the contract killer, John had a family. His siblings, would he been able to forgive himself if he had let John die, and left them without a dad.  
>He had done the right thing, but he still had to clench his hands to stop them shaking.<br>Unfortunately, in the world of espionage, not everyone's lives are worth the same amount.  
>You can't save everyone.<br>Five years ago in school, they handed out a survey type thing to all the students. One of the questions was _"Where do you see yourself five to ten years from now?" _ Alex was positive he did not write anything down about spies and assassins.  
>Walker hung up, shoved the phone into his pocket and made his way over to where Alex was sitting.<br>He looked livid.

"Get Up! That Russian will be here soon, I'm taking my last pay check and leaving him with you"

Alex did what he was told, he stood but still rested his back against the wall. He stared into his hands.

"I'm sorry Walker. 'Bout Amanda"

The man froze. Alex thought that maybe he should've kept his mouth shut. Then Walker sighed and rubbed his face with his hand.

"She betrayed orders; better you doing it then me having to later"

Alex silently disagreed; he wished someone else saved John. He didn't like the thought of having people's blood on his hands.  
>A familiar Lexus pulled up just outside the ally. An even more familiar Russian got out and walked towards them.<br>Yassen looked over to Alex.

"Get in the car Alex; I need to speak to Walker alone"

In the back of his mind he knew it wasn't going to be a friendly chat.  
>Alex obeyed, he left without a word. He got into the Lexus, did up his belt, then admired the vehicle. Alex knew from the Fer De Lance that Yassen was wealthy. But it was also obvious that the man knew how to spend that wealth. After the emotional breakdown, being arrested, then the bloody breakout, mixed with the plush leather seats and the heaters under them, Alex was ready to drop.<p>

He allowed himself to steal a glance back into the ally way, only to see the two assassins in a heated argument. Walker using a lot of hand gestures, while Yassen was taunt and still. Menacingly so, like a snake about to strike.  
>Then he did.<br>Yassen lashed out, three fingers jabbing into Walker's throat. Alex recognised the move; the strike would collapse the victim's windpipe, killing them almost instantly. He had been taught it while with Scorpia. A coldness filled Alex's veins. Walker was dead. Killed by a move that his father probably taught Yassen.  
>Yassen turned away from Walker's crumpling body and got into the car.<p>

"Was that necessary?" Alex was struggling to keep his voice neutral, despite their history, Walker hadn't been that bad of a person, there had even been a time where Alex had looked up to him a little.

"Yes" The single icy word was enough to unnerve him; Alex was sharing a vehicle with a very angry killer.  
>Yassen looked at him and some of the coldness in the blue eyes fleeted. He seemed to understand what Alex was feeling.<p>

"I do not like being blamed for other people's incompetence" Yassen paused, as if he was trying to read him.

"Are you okay?"

He wasn't going to lie; the question did take him by surprise, there was something that he had realised about the big bad assassin, that despite everything, Yassen was a bit of a marshmallow*. Not that Alex would _ever_ say that out loud.

Alex looked away.

"Yeah, I'm fine"

Yassen nodded.

"You have a strong sense of righteous anger Alex, murder does not sit well with you. Its okay, the nausea will pass"

Yassen did up his own belt and started the car. Alex smiled at the sound of the engine, then cursed Andi and Oscar for turning him into such a grease monkey. Yes, Yassen definitely knew how to spend his wealth.

"Before we leave, can I trust that you won't tell anyone where I live"

Alex smiled at him.

"Of course, we're brothers, remember?"

For the first time since he met the assassin, he saw him genuinely smile.

"Of course"

Yassen chuckled.  
>Alex found it strange how he could feel so comfortable around someone that had murdered in cold blood just minutes before.<br>Yassen pulled out and their car just became one of many others in rush hour traffic.

**An.**

**Yeah it's a short one, we know but every story has their moments like that, this was another one of those filler chapters we talked about earlier.**

**We actually had quite a serious discussion over whether or not we should kill Walker, both with each other and our consciences. In the end, our sadistic side won but we made it a quick death, he deserved that much.**

***We had a brief chat over how you don't need three cars to carry eight agents but then we laughed at the idea of three agents in the back seat cramped, shoulder to shoulder like little kids on a road trip. After that we decided that it was very necessary.**

*** Don't believe us? Read Eagle Strike again and we mean closely, Yassen is really quite the sweetheart deep down...really deep down.**

**Well that's us, over and out.**

**-Jean & Diana **


	16. Fire Burning

**Well been awhile hasn't it? Please don't hurt us.  
>Anyway, we have been rather busy and all last week Diana had the flu so couldn't update in the first week of the holidays.<strong>

**So, review the reviews shall we.**

**Coolio, you're half right, the story is based off the**

**_Hague_ family mottos, they have two, the other being _Sola Virtus Invicta _meaning virtue alone is invincible, although Haggerston branched off Hague, which is our mother's maiden name which is how we came to find it.  
>We are also (now) aware that it is <em>Hyems<em> not Hyens we misspelled it when we lost a bunch of research papers which included the Rider motto which I can no longer find, though Jean insists there wasn't one.  
>So we got the name for our story by looking through our ancestry. Completely off topic our family was totally badass, but that isn't important right now.<strong>

**Emmy1000, we love you, you're so nice. It's never update or I'll chase you with pitchforks or I'm gonna maim you with imaginary characters, it's always just**

**_'I love this story can't wait till you update'._**

**We can understand though, it seems that lately Fandom is dying and being replaced with..._fan girls _and we are not just talking Alex Rider here, in fact due to the lack of romantic interests in the series he probably has the least problems with it.**

**CoolerThanThouArt, we envy your life if your worst disappointment everyday is the fact that we haven't updated.**

**Okay so I think it is time to get to the reason you clicked on this story, hoped you like the (rushed) chapter.**

**Disclaimer: We do not own the Alex Rider series**

Chapter Fifteen  
>Fire Burning<p>

John had taken Helen home and then left again, leaving her alone in the empty house feeling numb.  
>Helen had curled herself up into a blanket in the corner of the sofa, staring blindly at the cup of tea clutched in her hands that had long ago gone cold. At the back of her mind she knew that Marcus and Aiden would be home soon, that they shouldn't see her like this, but she couldn't bring herself to move.<p>

Now, Helen would never describe herself as weak or overemotional, she had always prided herself in her strength, it was one of the many qualities a person needed when being involved with a man like John; her strength is what kept her from leaving in the rougher parts of their marriage ...that and love.

How else would she have kept it together when John was sent to prison for murder and herself moved into a small government flat, in a horrible neighbourhood with minimal pay all for the sake of a convincing alibi so her spy of a husband could place himself in danger once again.

To live without him for months on end whilst carrying a child within her womb.

To have her family leave her because she refused to leave a 'convicted murderer'.

Yes, Helen never thought herself to be weak, but right now that was exactly how she felt.

_Tell me what you have lost Alex, noting that your parents don't count because they chose to leave._

Those words had cut her deep, but nowhere near as badly as it must have done to Alex. Helen played the scene over and over in her head, she couldn't get it out of her mind, Alex's face held so much anguish before completely closing off.

Guilt had plagued her since the day they left the baby boy with his uncle, but to finally see the effect it had, had on Alex...

The cup fell from Helen's grasp and bounced across the carpeted floor, spilling the contents; already soaking into the wool.

Helen buried her face into her blanket, sobs shaking through her body.

She thought he would be safe, of all the things she had expected, the worst case scenarios that had crossed her mind over the years, none of that had prepared her for this.

Her thoughts were cut off by the sound of aimless bickering and a key entering the lock of the front door.

Helen jumped up, wiping her eyes with her sleeves like a small child, just as she bent down to pick the cup; two other bodies entered the room.

"'Ello mother"

Aiden threw her school shoulder bag down on the arm chair; Marcus let out a large 'huff' as he let his bag slide off his shoulders into the middle of the floor and then casually step over it like it never existed.

"Hey Mom, you'll never believe the day I had"

Marcus paused; Helen could feel his eyes examining the scene in front of him.

"Mom, a-are you alright?"

Aiden stopped her mindless chatter about her lunchtime to face her also, the girl's features scrunching together in worry and confusion.

"Whoa Mom, you look like hell"

Marcus shot Aiden a sharp look, Aiden returned an indignant one.

Helen carefully placed the cup onto the wooden coffee table, ignoring the fact that her fingers were still shaking and vacantly swept some rogue hairs behind her ear with a sleeved covered hand.

"I'm fine; I just dropped my cup, that's all".

Marcus and Aiden shared a look that Helen couldn't describe, it was almost like they were having an internal argument with each other; Marcus sighed and took a cautious step forward.

"No you're not fine"

"Yeah, I mean com'mon; you didn't even put the cup on a coaster"

Marcus looked at Aiden in disbelief, she just shrugged.

Helen turned away.

"No, really, I'm fine"

Helen went to walk out the room, when Marcus blocked her off and gently placing his hands on her shoulders, forcing her to look at him. Helen couldn't help but to think about how tall he was getting, their eyes perfectly level. Marcus took in the red-rimmed, puffy eyes and swollen cheeks of his mother.

"No Mom, you're really not; have you been crying?"

Helen could feel Aiden standing right behind her now; she bowed her head, not bringing herself to look at the boy before her. Marcus wrapped his arms tightly around her; Helen buried her face into his shoulder.

"Mom?"

Aiden's voice cracked a little, Helen burst into tears for the third time that day, Marcus leaned into her further.

"Hey Mom, it's going to be okay, it'll be okay; Aiden can you please clean up the carpet, it's covered in tea"

Helen could hear the soft footsteps leave the room. Helen just stood there, in silence, in her son's arms, not quite sure where to go from here.

"Mom, wanna tell me what's wrong?"

Helen sighed, unsure how to answer.

"It is ... complex to say the least and it's a rather long story, I don't know if I should tell you at all"

"It'll make it easier, besides you tell us everything anyway"

Helen looked at Marcus feeling herself fill with pride, she rested her hand on the side of his face and stroked his cheek with her thumb.

"You are so sweet; God knows where you got that from... it wasn't me. I'm sorry but there are a lot of dark secrets that this family holds that neither you nor your sister know about"

"Dark secrets? How intriguing! Do tell, it's not like we're too young or anything"

Aiden had returned with her arms full of paper towels, kitchen cloths, water and carpet cleaners. Helen dropped her hand from Marcus's face and smiled at her.

"Umm, which ones am I supposed to use?"

Marcus snorted.

"Isn't that supposed to be your area of expertise; you're a girl after all. Like a spider knowing how to make a web. Instinct."

Aiden glared at him.

"In that case, how come you haven't done it yet Flower"

Marcus glowered at her. Helen waved her hand through the air dismissing Aiden's question.

"Doesn't matter, I don't like the carpet anyway, gives me an excuse to replace it."

Aiden shrugged.

"In that case..."

She dropped the whole lot onto the carpet, stepped over the mess in the same manner as Marcus had done with his school bag, and then cringed.

"Dammit, I got water in my sock"

Aiden sat down on the sofa, Helen and Marcus joined her. Aiden pulled off her right sock.

"Gross!"

Marcus rested his head against the back of the sofa and turned it towards Helen.

"So... dark secrets huh?"

She was suddenly aware she had complete attention of both of her children. That did not happen often. Helen let out a heavy sigh.

"I've been lying to myself for nearly seventeen years".

There was silence, Marcus looked slightly alarmed.

"Now that's how you start a good story!"

Heads turned to face Aiden, who was grinning in rapt interest.

Marcus frowned.

"This wouldn't have anything to do with Dad, would it?"

Helen shook her head, what could she possibly say?

"No, no, well kind of, for the most part actually...No, guys, this is about your brother"

Both children suddenly did perfect imitations of a couple of owls, eyes growing wider than thought possible.

"What?"

"Who?"

"Huh?"

"You've got to be kidding?"

The two of them began firing questions at her like an automatic machine gun, but neither of them able to form one with more than seven syllables.

Helen groaned, this was going to be harder than she ever imagined.

"I suppose I should just start from the beginning, I'll stick to the basics until your father gets home".

Marcus chuckled.

"Mom, we know about the birds and the bees, they teach it in schools now".

Aiden cracked up in her little corner of the sofa; Helen lightly slapped Marcus on the shoulder.

"Oh, shut up".

Aiden went into fits, holding her stomach.

_Well, I guess it is always best to start with a joke._

"His name is Alex; he will be seventeen next month..."

Aiden suddenly frowned, looking out the window.

"Hey Mom, the guy in that car, he's been sitting there since we left for school, I think he's watching us".

Helen whipped her head 'round to look where Aiden was staring, sure enough there was a rather well-built, expressionless man, leaning back in the seat of his silver car (a colour not uncommon in these parts) watching the house, watching them...subtly but not subtle enough. Helen felt her blood run cold.

Marcus snorted.

"Seriously Aiden, your being parano..."

"Marcus lock all the doors and windows, Aiden shut all curtains and blinds".

Helen spoke the words quietly but the urgency was blatant.

The teens' eyes grew wide again. Marcus stuttered slightly.

"Whoa Mom, what..."

"Quickly, do it now".

Helen snapped at them, the two ran in two different directions. The lounge plunged into darkness as the sunlight was sealed off.

Helen ran into the kitchen, she could hear the clambering of rushing feet and short negotiations from upstairs as her children double checked everything. She grabbed the wall phone, punched in John's number and held the phone to her ear.

Not even a dial tone.

Helen dropped the phone, letting it hang just centimetres off the ground by its cord.

She pulled out her cell and mashed the keys with her thumb, didn't even light up, she held down the power button. Nothing.

Helen had charged it this morning, but she knew it had nothing to do with the battery.

"Kids, check your phones!" Helen screamed the words.

"Nothing!" Marcus' voice ran down the stairs.

Aiden jogged into the kitchen.

"Me neither"

Helen went over to the oven to check the gas. Aiden began to abuse the light switch.

"Mom, we have no power!" Her voice was higher than usual.

Helen pressed the stove switch and turned it, attempting to ignite one of the rings, the oven ticked but still nothing.

Marcus joined them.

"No gas either?"

Helen shook her head and took a step back; pausing for a moment then swung back around and kicked the stove as hard as she could.

"F***!"

Aiden was taking deep breaths trying to calm herself; Marcus ignored his mother's profanity.

"Should we try to leave?" He seemed surprisingly calm.

_Just like all Rider males._

Helen took a deep breath, trying to think.

_WWJD, What Would John Do?_

"No we can't, they won't let us"

Helen began rummaging through the drawers, Aiden looked horrified.

"_They?_ Who the hell are they?"

Helen pulled a key out from one drawers she had dismembered.

"Mom?"

Helen rushed over to a locked draw next to the main entrance.

"Mom!"

Helen swung around.

"Enough Aiden, you need to calm down"

Disbelief etched her face, but she kept quiet, Helen pulled a small handgun out from the draw, loaded it, armed it and locked it.

_Easier to shoot, just flick the lock and pull the trigger, just like John told you._

Marcus made a choking sound.

"Whoa! Mom!" Despite everything the boy looked impressed.

Helen smiled.

"Like I said; dark little secrets"

Aiden gave her an appraising look.

"You don't say"

Helen grabbed Aiden's hand in her empty one.

"Come on, upstairs, the master bedroom"

The trio swiftly ran upstairs, Aiden almost being dragged, she let go of her mother's hand and jumped onto the bed, quickly followed by Marcus.

Helen turned and locked the door, then sat cross-legged on the bed with the gun resting on her thigh. Her two children leaning on the either side of her like bookends.

_Just try and take me!_

...Line Break...

John felt jittery, whether it was from nerves or anticipation he did not know. He was sitting with nine other men, who were prepping for the raid, loading guns, suiting up in bulletproof vests and quietly talking among themselves. They were sitting in the back of an armoured van commonly used with the SWAT heading towards the bar in a four van convoy.  
>John had already double checked his SA-361 sub-machine gun and a pistol which he had strapped to the side of his right calf muscle, then checked again for luck.<p>

No one knew what would happen tonight or how many would be involved; John just hoped that the forty men chosen would be enough.  
>The sun had set less than an hour ago, giving them the cover of the night, hopefully they could surround the place before someone raised the alarm. Everyone in the surrounding area had been quietly and subtly evacuated.<br>The rule was do not fire unless fired against.

If it all goes to plan, the raid will end with very few casualties.

The van shuddered to a stop. John looked up at the other men. They nodded back.  
>John opened the back of the van and saw thirty men piling out of the three other vehicles and being directed to where they needed to go with the use of hand signals only.<br>John looked behind him. He signalled his team to follow him with the wave of his hand and then pointed in the direction of the back entrance so they would know where they were heading.  
>They moved silently, quickly and carefully maintaining an awareness of their surroundings.<br>They reached the back door. John raised his hand signalling them to stop.  
>John talked into his two-way radio*that was attached to his shirt collar.<p>

"Rider to Command, Team Alpha in position, are we clear to proceed?"

John paused and waited for a reply.

_"Command to Rider, your position is acknowledged, building is surrounded and you are clear to proceed"_

John nodded to himself.

"Acknowledged"

John then nodded to his team in front of him, he then counted down from five on his fingers.

_5..._

_4..._

_3..._

_2..._

_1..._

John gestured towards the door.

_Go!_

A man standing across from John nodded, took a step forward and kicked in the door.  
>The silence that had previously filled the air was shattered in an instant. Shouting and short bursts of machine guns surrounded him as the other teams move forward.<br>John had used the same entrance as he did the night he had followed Alex which had led him into the kitchen, this time however it was not as empty.

The room was occupied by three cooks and a dish cleaner, all of whom stiffened and threw their hands up above their heads as John's men piled in.

The dish cleaner swore in Spanish, threw a wet vegetable knife aimlessly at them; as the knife bounced off the tiled walls, the man turn and ran towards the kitchen door, shouting words incoherently (still in Spanish).

One of John's men grabbed the man by the strings of his apron, smacked him across the face and threw him to the ground; as the dish washer moved to get up, the agent hovered the tip of his gun just above his head.

"Don't move"

He clearly didn't need any more convincing as he curled up on the ground, muttering.

John stepped forward.

"You three" John gestured to the man guarding the cleaner and two others.

"Cover the exit, and don't let these guys slip away, everyone else, move on and cover your mates"

They move forward through the kitchen door into the main room, the elegance of the place surprised John but it wasn't the time to admire the interior design. Mini skirmishes had broken out all over the site. Enemy agents who had run out of bullets resorted to using the fist. A man screamed as he was thrown off the overhang balcony, he hit the ground with a thud and didn't move.

It was chaos from there, John couldn't remember all the faces that attacked him, he didn't have time to process them all. He just went into auto pilot.

John ducked down behind a bench-seat as someone took a shot at him. He sent a short burst of bullets back and the man fell.

"FBI! _Drop your weapons!_"

Shouting filled the air; clearly they were not willing to comply. Someone threw a canister of tear gas causing John's throat to burn and his eyes to water. He moved forward blindly, keeping his head down as his fellow agents began to flank the rest.  
>Someone charged at John; a knife thrusting downwards towards his neck.<p>

John double tapped his trigger, placing bullets in both the man's kneecaps, and then fired once more into his hand; the man fell to the ground screaming. John swung round and hit a man over the head with the butt of his gun, his eyes rolled back and he crumpled.  
>Finally the first few hands went up in surrender followed by the rest. They corralled them to the centre of the room and disarmed them; kicking away their weapons.<p>

John scanned the faces of the men and women before him, some seemed a little scared, most however, were defiant. Walker was not present among them.

"We are looking for a man named Walker! Where is he!"

"He's gone out!" A voice called out from the centre of the group; there were a couple of snickers.

One of John's men growled quietly behind him.

John tried his best not to look exasperated.

"Where?" His voice was the equivalent to steel.

"He went to give that egotistical spawn of yours back to the Russian, hasn't been seen since... and probably won't be, I know the Russian wasn't too happy with him"

John's head spun for a split-second, so Alex was with Yassen; John was unsure on whether that was a good or bad thing.

John pulled the man out of the huddle. He looked Hispanic, his face was scarred and his nose crooked. His lips were red with blood that was dripping down his chin and on to his top.

"What was Walker's arrangement with Gregorovich? Do you know?"

The man rolled his eyes and scanned the hoard of FBI. He spat blood onto the floor.

"Not sure, somethin' 'bout getting paid for looking after the brat while he was looking for his uncle, making sure no one took him for the bounty that's on 'is head"

John started for a moment.

_"Bounty?"_

The man grinned; it was rather gruesome as he showed broken and bloody teeth.

"Yea, a freaking big one too, don't know why, he don't seem like much, but he is rather famous...or infamous depending how you look at it"

He smiled again; his eyes scanned John, sizing him up.

"You got a bit of a bounty on your own head too y'know, a man could be set for life with money like that"

John withheld a growl.

In the back of his mind he was putting the pieces together slowly.  
>Yassen had hired Walker for Alex's safe keeping, Walker gave Alex some information on Ian and told him how to get into the FBI network, however he then took that woman, Amanda, with him when they went to get Alex out, therefore failing the original deal on keeping Alex safe. Yassen didn't accept failure meaning that Walker would probably now be incapable of giving them the information they needed.<p>

John turned his gaze back to the man.

"What do you know about the boy's uncle and the other Phoenix captives?"

The man smirked and raised his hands submissively.

"Can't tell you that, Scout's Honour and all that" His tone could have been the definition of mockery.

John glowered at him.

"You can't tell me?" The words were slow and measured; the man chuckled back at him.

"Nope" He popped the 'p' and continued to grin back at John.

John looked briefly at his men behind him, and then casually nodded to himself.

"Hmm, right, okay then".

John swung round his fist, crashing it into the side of the Hispanic's face, forcing him to stumble back; there were cries of anger and protest as John grabbed the man by the front of his shirt and held his pistol against the man's kneecap.

"Have you heard that being shot in the knee is one of the most painful things man can experience, if you don't believe me just ask your friend over there" John gestured his head over to the man he had shot earlier, who was looking rather pale, whimpering on the floor.

For the first time, fear crossed the Hispanic's face

This was a side of himself that John hated, but he tried to look menacing.

"I think you should tell me what you know"

The man flinched but shook his head and then cried out as John pulled the trigger, only to have it click.

John forced the man to look him in the eyes.

"That was a warning, next will be for real"

To prove his point he flicked off the safety, the man flinched again at the sound.

"Tell me what you know!"

The man's eyes flicked around the room, then to the gun and then back at John. He sounded like he was going to start hyperventilating.

"Nova Scotia!" He practically shouted it. He took a deep breath.

"They are in Nova Scotia, Halifax. Phoenix built a garrison in one of the Provincial parks, Crystal Crescent I think, I don't know why, but that's where they are"

The man was panting and sweaty, he was clearly afraid of the consequences of snitching. He looked away from John, as if trying to work out whether he should say more.  
>John nodded to one of his agents, he nodded back. They had got what they had come for.<p>

John threw the Hispanic onto the floor.

"Cuff him and take him, we need an official statement"

Honestly though John just didn't want to leave him with a hoard of angry assassins.  
>The man sighed with what sounded like relief.<p>

"I know you are trying to save your brother Hunter, but right now it shouldn't be him you are worrying about"

John glanced down at him.

"What are you talking about?"

He looked back at John with pity.

"I'd go home if I were you"

...Line Break...

Helen's muscles had long ago gone stiff but she didn't move from her position on the bed.  
>She had explained what she could to Marcus and Aiden about Alex, Ian and the flight from England.<br>It was meet with silence then followed with a bombardment of questions and a _"So that's who it was from" _referring to the necklace locket she had received in the mail. Helen was rather put out that her daughter had accepted a gift when she didn't have a clue who sent it but she didn't have the heart to lecture at a time like this.  
>They had both fallen asleep against her, but she stayed alert.<br>Something told her that they were in danger, she had to stay awake.  
>The hairs on the back of her neck suddenly rose. She froze and listened.<br>Footsteps.  
>Someone was inside the house! Still downstairs by the sound of it. There were whispers. More than one.<br>Helen took a deep breath to calm herself then nudged Marcus and Aiden awake.  
>Marcus acted like he had never been asleep at all, he sat up completely alert.<br>Aiden blinked and rubbed her eyes.

"Mom wha..."

Marcus covered her mouth and raised a finger to his lips. Aiden's eyes widened and she nodded slowly.  
>The footsteps were charging up the stairs now, the sound of doors being kicked in echoed down the hallway into the bedroom.<p>

Helen stood up and placed herself beside their door, gun ready.

"Take cover in the corner and keep your heads down" Helen whispered.

Marcus nodded and dragged Aiden with him ducking down behind the chest of drawers.

The footsteps were close now; Helen could see a shadow coming in under the door.

The door handle shook as someone tested it.

"They're in here!" A rough voice called out, more footsteps could be heard, coming in their direction.

Aiden whimpered in the corner, Marcus gently placed his hand over her mouth again to keep her from screaming.

_Crack_

The door shuddered and splintered as someone tried to kick it in, the lock giving it an extra bit of strength.

Helen took a step back and flicked the safety off the gun.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

_Crack_

People were shouting outside the door now, taunting them inside.

_Crack, Crash!_

Helen opened her eyes as the door came down and pulled the trigger on the gun, screaming as she did so.

The sharp recoil jolted up through her arm and into her shoulder, the sound was deafening.

The bullet ricocheted off the remains of one of the door hinges and into the first man's thigh.

He cried out and Helen could hear Aiden scream from behind her.

Another man swore and took cover behind the door frame.

A third man charged at Helen, she screamed a second time and pull the trigger again.

The bullet buried itself in the floor, centimetres from the man's toes.

He grabbed the barrel of the gun and yanked it upward, Helen tried wrestling with him but the gun was ripped from her grasp, he threw Helen onto the ground and trained the gun onto her.

"MOM!"

Marcus ran forward and grabbed the man's arm, swung him round and punched him in the face.

The second came out from behind the door frame and pulled the boy off his mate and threw him to the ground also.

Aiden sprinted out from her safe corner and began punching and kicking the man wildly.

"Stay away from him!"

Man Number Two turn to look at her, a small smile playing on his lips; he looked back at Number Three who was laughing at her despite his bleeding nose.

Number Two grabbed Aiden by the wrist, who screamed and struggled to get her wrist free.

"What's the matter sweetheart? Is that all you got?"

Aiden screamed again and slapped him hard across the face with her free hand, her nails rough and jagged from her constant biting left four bleeding cat-like scratches across his cheek.

_"F***ing bitch!"_

He lunged forward at her. Aiden squealed, grabbed a small angel statuette off the vanity and smacked him over the head with it.

The man yelped and fell to his knees, clutching his face.

Marcus helped Helen up off the ground. Aiden held the angel out in front of her in the general direction of the third man like it was a weapon.  
>The man quickly drew out a strange looking gun from his waist band and fired three times. Helen felt a sharp prick in her leg, then the room started to spin, she watched her two children crumble to the ground. She tried to call out their names but no sound escaped her lips.<br>Everything faded to black.

...

Helen had the taste of metal in her mouth. Her head pounded and she felt woozy, also strangely warm. She opened her eyes and the dark room spun around her. Someone stirred next to her.

"Mom?"

It was Aiden. Helen turned towards her, then realised that she was sitting up.  
>She didn't remember doing so.<p>

"Aiden?" Her voice came out croaky,

"Are you alright?"

It was a silly question really, her face was shaded green and she looked like she was going to be sick.

"My head hurts"

Helen rubbed her temples.

"Yeah so does mine"

"I'm feeling brilliant by the way, other than the percussion band playing in my brain, but thanks for asking ladies"

Helen and Aiden jumped in their spots on the floor. Helen could just make out Marcus' half smile-grimace.

"Marcus how long have you been awake?"

Marcus shook his head, ignoring the question.

"How long ago did the sun set do you think?"

Helen looked out the window and realised that they were still in the bedroom.

"I'm not sure"

"Why did they go through all that trouble to get us, only to leave us here and fix the door?"

It was Aiden who had spoken that time. Helen looked back at her then at the door, sure enough it was standing in its rightful place but looking rather sad.

Helen frowned, slowly she stood up, still unsteady on her feet.

Examining the door, she gave it a little nudge. The door shuddered but stood. Helen pulled on the door handle hard; it shuddered again but didn't move.  
>They were locked in, but the lock had been broken. The men had barricaded the door.<p>

Helen could hear a faint roaring crackle coming from below, suddenly the strangely warm room made sense. Helen looked down to see smoke slowly seeping through the floorboards.

The house was on fire and they were locked inside.

...Line Break...

Alex was sitting at the dining table in Yassen's Grecian Villa styled house overlooking the bay. Looking out of the window he could see the _Fer De Lance_ docked in the distance. The sun sat low on the horizon.  
>When he first saw the house, he raised an eyebrow at the man; he had simply raised one back and walked inside.<br>It was a nice house, complete with the ionic columns and open style living.  
>Alex wondered how many houses Yassen had around the world.<br>_  
>Nova Scotia<em>

Alex had done some research before he booked the airplane ticket. At its best, it was going to be bitterly cold. The max temperature still being in the negative of the Celsius scale; it destroyed the idea of packing light. The only positive thing about the place at this time of the year is that the bears would be hibernating. Yassen had merely shrugged it off with a "_You should go to Russia"_.

Despite what he had got himself from the FBI it wasn't enough. It all seemed rather hopeless until half an hour ago. Yassen came in and told him that John had raided Walker's bar and that Ian was in Nova Scotia and his exact whereabouts in Nova Scotia.  
>How the man had acquired the information Alex thought best not to ask.<p>

Alex turned his head as the said man strode in carrying what looked like a tramping bag, the ones that came half-way down your back and above your head.

Alex stood and Yassen threw it at him; catching it in his arms and holding it like you would a young sleeping child while carrying them to bed.

Alex gave the man a questioning look.

"It's a travelling bag, just in case I needed to run, take it for your flight. You'll find winter gear in there, it should fit you, we're not too different in sizes now".

Alex looked from the bag to Yassen.

"Thanks, are you sure you don't want to come?"

Yassen smiled at him.

"I may turn up, but I don't think your uncle will appreciate the sentiment"

Alex smirked and shouldered the bag.

"You know, after being imprisoned for three years, I don't think he would care too much on who got him out"

Yassen was about to say something when his phone buzzed. He frowned, pulled it out of his pocket and answered.  
>The conversation seemed very one-sided as Yassen barely said more than three words; Alex could faintly hear the voice on the other end. They were talking rather quickly. Yassen's frown became more pronounced. The call lasted a few more moments before who ever was on the line hung up. Yassen seemed to weigh the phone in his hand before he slipped it back into his pocket.<p>

"Who was it?"

Yassen had a grim expression on his face, like he had just been given bad news. He looked at Alex then ran his hand through his hair.

"What's going on?"

"Phoenix has just ordered a hit against Helen and your siblings"

Alex felt like someone had just injected him with ice, it took him a moment to fully comprehend what Yassen had told him.

"I need to borrow your car"

_"Excuse me?"_

Alex didn't know what he was planning or if he even had a plan but he had to help, a deep pull within his gut told him that he had to help them.

"I _need your car! _I have to go help"

Yassen studied him for a moment; he then reached into his back pocket, brought out his car keys and threw them at Alex. Alex caught them with his right hand.

"Take the bag with you; we may not see each other again before your flight"

Alex just nodded; he didn't think that it was going to be that easy. He turned to leave when Yassen stopped him.

"There is a carton of bottled water and a crowbar in the garage; I suggest you take them with you, also..."  
>He paused and examined Alex again,<p>

"Be careful, it would be a shame if I had to hurt you after everything because you crashed my car"

Alex had no idea whether he was being serious or if that was Yassen's attempt at humour, he didn't really want to find out.  
>With an unsure nod of his head, Alex made his way to the door.<p>

...

Alex had seen the problem he would be facing before he even saw the house. A column of smoke towering up over the house greeted him half way down the road.  
>The sight of it made him feel sick.<br>He came to a screeching halt half way up the drive-way. Alex got out and quickly examined the situation. The side door seemed like the best bet.  
>He reached into the car and grabbed a bottle of water, unscrewed the top and poured it over himself, giving himself that little extra protection against the flames.<br>He grabbed the crowbar through the side window and made his way to the house.

He came to the door and saw smoke escaping through the gaps.  
>Alex lashed out with a hard karate kick. The door had been locked, it seemed, as it broke at the hinges. Embers and smoke hit Alex full in the face. He jumped back, more from shock then being burnt.<br>Alex pulled his shirt over his nose and mouth then entered. He had just stepped into an oven and back into the memories of Hornchurch Towers and Elm's Cross.  
>How many times can you walk into hell and come out alive? Only this time Alex was going to bring people back with him.<p>

Black smoke filled the air, chocking him and making it near impossible to see. Alex could just make out the living room as brilliant red and orange flames engulfed the couches.  
>Then he saw the staircase. He was drawn to it; Alex knew that they were up there.<br>He made his way through the house as quickly as he could; sweat and steam pouring off him. He could feel the water evaporating from his shirt, ash and embers floated around him. Alex ran up the stairs and into the hallway; he heard glass shattering behind him. The floor beneath him was getting incredibly hot.

Alex scanned the doors around him, once again letting instinct tell him where to go. The door to the left of him was barricaded with wood and nails. He ran to it and brought the crowbar down on the barricade and wretched it forward. It jolted and came loose.

_"Hello, anyone out there?"_

The voice sounded so distant amongst the crackling, shattering glass and the roaring flame. It was female and very scared but she filled Alex with relief.

"It's okay, I'm gonna get you out. Stand away from the door, Okay? Is everyone alright?"

Alex voice came out rather hoarse. The smoke was making his eyes sting and tears were falling down his face, leaving ashy streaks. It was getting more and more difficult to see, Alex was certain that if he did not hurry then the house would collapse on them. He could already hear it straining.

_"Yeah, we're okay... kinda." _There was a pause as Alex once again brought the crowbar down against the door.

_"Are you British? My guardian angel is British!"_

Alex choked out a laugh, tears still streaming down his cheeks.

"Yeah I am"

Alex took a step back and put all his strength in a round house kick. The door gave in revealing three dirty faced people all looking rather exhausted but relieved.

The house let out a large groan and then was followed by shudder as the floor below them nearly caved in. The young girl let out a husky cry.

They didn't have much longer, they had to leave now!

Alex made eye contact with Helen and saw that she had come to the same conclusion.

"Come on, lets get out of here!"

They didn't need telling twice. The young girl, Aiden, grabbed his hand and was grasping what looked like an angel statue in her other hand. Alex let Helen lead the way; she knew the house better than he did. Half way down the stairs, it gave way beneath him and Aiden causing them to fall. Alex wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her into him. He took the fall on his left side which exploded in pain.  
>Alex screamed, but stood up all the same. He pulled Aiden up and onto his back, he lost the crowbar but it didn't really matter.<br>He charged out the front door through a curtain of flame to see Helen and Marcus standing fearfully out on the lawn. Alex fell to his knees on the grass and let Aiden slide off his back. He took in gulps of fresh air greedily; the damp ground was cool against his skin.  
>Suddenly a pair of thin arms enveloped him in a hug. Alex looked up and saw that it was Helen. She started stroking his hair and kissed the crown of his head.<p>

"You're Alex, I take it"

Alex nodded; the blue eyed, usually blonde haired boy was examining him closely.

"Yeah and you're Marcus"

Marcus continued to examine him, Aiden however, broke out in a grin, ran forward and joined in the hug.

"You, my dear British brother, are badass"

Alex laughed again. He stole a glance behind him at the burning home. He stood up, pulling Helen up with him.

"Come on, I'll take you back to mine. Let's see how the Foster's react to this"

**Done! That was a long one, hope it makes up for the wait.  
>Now folks memorise this date, 22<strong>**nd**** of July, this is our 17****th**** birthday. :D  
>Currently got our fingers crossed for the rights of Alex Rider and a Panda Pillow Pet, If not that at least Sims Supernatural pre ordered.<strong>

*** We had to google this for a more dignified word than walkie talkie.**

**Well till next time,**

**-Jean & Diana**


	17. Family Ties

**So...Two months...Long time huh?  
>Please don't hurt us. There is reason behind it though, school has just hit exams. We have just finished the mocks and the real ones will be mid Novemberish and because I have no desire to fail Year 12 like I did Year 11 we had to put Fanfiction on hold.<br>On a lighter note, we got Pillowpets for our birthday **_**and **_**the Mark of Athena comes out in two weeks, give or take a few days. Who else is psyched about that? Still need to invest in the Demigod Diaries and lately because of the lack of books being released I have gotten addicted to Artemis Fowl which has helped with the wait.  
>So here is a question, what series do you go to while waiting for a new book to be released?<br>Tell us, we would love to know. Anyway we should probably get to the chapter; you've been waiting long enough. (If the chapter takes a weird turn it will be because of the cappuccino I just had and I never have caffeine, I'm technically not even allowed it.)  
>-Diana<strong>

Chapter Sixteen  
>Family Ties<p>

Marcus' head was reeling from the day's events and how quickly things had changed in a matter of hours. If you had told him that morning that by the time dusk was setting he would be rescued from the burning skeleton that had been his house in a car driven by his secret brother who had a British accent, he would have told you that you had a few of your pages stuck together. However, that was exactly what had happened. His parents weren't the people that he thought they were. Evans wasn't even his real surname; it was Rider. Rider, Marcus Rider. He won't deny, it had a nice ring to it; sounded much more badass than Evans but at the same time it just wasn't him.

Marcus examined Alex from the backseat of the Lexus. He was only about fifteen months older than Marcus but in the dying sunlight that shadowed and highlighted certain features on his face he looked a lot older. Alex looked more like their father than he and Aiden put together. This thought caused an uncomfortable feeling in the pit of his stomach, a feeling that later he would label as jealousy.  
>Marcus started tapping his right hand's fingers against his leg, playing the drums against his thigh like he always did when he was out of his comfort zone. He had always catch himself wishing that he looked more like his father, even at the age of fifteen Marcus had the man placed on a pedestal. He would've given anything to be a bit more like the man who raised him. Suddenly everything that he thought true was ripped out from under him. His father wasn't who Marcus thought he was. The man he knew wasn't even real; Chase Evans didn't even exist. Chase Evans was just a name on some paperwork given to another man's face.<br>Marcus was the second son and with the small age gap he felt like the replacement. Marcus did his best to push these bitter thoughts to the back of his mind so he could focus on the main predicament at hand. He didn't know where he was going, he had no clean clothes and he was filthy. Completely covered in soot and sweat, accompanied by the smell of smoke. Being trapped in a burning building sure that you're about to become crispier than pig crinkle was not something he ever wanted to experience again. The heat was so intense and the smoke would've have killed him before the flames. The panic of not being able to breathe or see or call for help still hadn't completely receded and would probably haunt him for the rest of his life.  
>Then, like a miracle, Alex appeared out of nowhere and got them out. Marcus wasn't comfortable with how quickly Aiden had accepted him. After all, how did Alex know that they were in trouble or even knew where they lived? Marcus wasn't prepared to open his arms out to this boy just yet.<p>

Aiden had fallen asleep next to him, her head resting against the car window. Marcus wasn't surprised; he was also trying not to fall asleep after the past events but fawning over someone you have never met before on top of that must be absolutely exhausting. His mother sat up front next to Alex wide eyed and staring, drinking in the other boy's presence; occasionally the two of them would exchange words, sharing answers to each other's questions. Marcus didn't know what to make of his mother at this point. They two of them had always been close, much closer than him and his dad. He could never find it in himself to be angry with her, apparently this included a situation where he discovered that he had been lied to his entire life.  
>Alex turned off into a rather wealthy looking cul-de-sac and pulled into a drive way that led to a double story house that didn't look that much different to the rest of the houses surrounding it.<p>

Marcus watched as Alex pulled up the emergency brake and turned off the engine. He was staring at the house with an apprehensive look across his face. Why?  
>Marcus unclipped his seatbelt and gently shook Aiden awake. She shot up, blinking rapidly. Her eyes were flicking aroundtaking in her surroundings. She unclipped her own seatbelt.<br>Alex sighed deeply and turned to address them.

"My foster parents don't know about any of you and my foster sister has a temper so I'm not sure how they are going to react. Just allow me to talk with them and they'll come round"

He turned around again and opened his door but paused half way out to look at them again.

"Another thing, the dog really likes new people and will probably jump up at you..." Alex paused with a contemplative expression, "That or he'll start humping your leg. Either way, just lift your knee into him or push him back and he'll leave you be."

Aiden giggled at that, even Marcus withheld a grin. Alex smiled at them.

"Well no point delaying this any longer, let's go see how long I'm grounded for"

With that he was out of the car, Marcus and the girls following suit. They followed Alex up to the front door. Marcus stayed back as he watched Alex dig out keys from his pocket, select the correct one and unlocked the door. Alex turned the handle and tentatively stepped through the threshold. Marcus noticed that he was quite light footed; he made very little sound as he walked. Quite possibly he didn't want to draw attention to his homecoming before he wanted it. Alex turned and gestured for them to enter. Marcus was the last one through and shut the door behind him quietly. Without even truly considering it, he flicked the latch to lock it. It wouldn't really stop anyone who wanted to get in but it gave him some peace of mind.  
>Alex walked over to a wooden table that sat in the entrance and placed his keys in the draw.<p>

"Anyone home?"

Alex's echo and then silence was all that greeted them.  
>Suddenly.<br>Dog.  
>It happened that quickly. Eighty pounds of muscle, stupidity (he always thought dogs were one of the dumbest animals on the planet), drool, and brown fur slammed into him almost knocking him off his feet. Marcus was winded but he remembered what Alex told him. He brought his knee into the mutt's chest. The Labrador jumped backwards, and then crouched like he wanted to play.<p>

"Brax, heel!"

The dog, Brax, looked at Alex then back at him. Brax then proceeded by chasing his tail twice before sitting by Alex's feet, panting with his tongue hanging from his mouth.  
>Marcus was stunned, even by his standards, this dog was exceptionally stupid.<p>

"Alex? You home?"

The voice was female. Clipped, posh and British. The owner then appeared in the entrance. Marcus only just stopped his jaw dropping. The blue eyed brunette could only have been a couple of years older than Marcus and she was stunning. This was obviously Alex's foster sister. He briefly wondered if she considered Alex as her brother and if so, would she consider him the same way. That would be rather unfortunate if she did.  
>She stopped when she saw that she had <em>guests. <em>She pursed her lips, her eyes flicked from Alex to Marcus and the rest of his family.  
>She exasperated and shook her head.<p>

"I'm not going to ask, I don't wanna know, Mum and Dad are in the lounge. I have too big of a headache to deal with this."

She turned on her heel and left the way she came.  
>Alex gave them a nervous smile.<p>

"That could've gone worse" He wiped his hands against his jeans in a useless attempt to remove any dirt. "Well, follow me I guess."

Alex led them deeper into the house. Marcus felt even dirtier in comparison to this well kept, almost show home clean house. He was thankful that there weren't many light colours as he was sure he would be leaving marks everywhere. He could hear a television blaring in the direction that they were headed. Alex stopped them at a double archway. An older couple sat on a leather three-seater. The man had his legs stretched out in front of him, crossed at the ankles. He had longish grey hair and glasses. The woman was leaning into him. She was obviously the mother of the girl he saw earlier, the only major difference was that her features were more aged and she had stray grey hairs amongst the brown.

"Hey Ed, Liz ummm, I brought guests; we also really need to talk"

They both swerved round to look at Alex. Their jaws dropped at the sight that greeted them. The man, Ed, stood abruptly, grabbed a polished wooden walking stick and flicked off the TV.

"Alex..." He was interrupted by his wife.

She bounded over to Alex and cupped his face in her hands. She examined him briefly before stepping back.

"You're filthy, and you reek of smoke" Her eyes scanned over him and the females, which he had only just noticed were being very still and quiet. Him, quiet; yes. Still; no. He couldn't stop alternating from fiddling with his fingers and tapping his foot or shifting his weight from leg to leg. He was nervous, he had, had an eventful day and he didn't know how this family was going to react to the sudden appearance of his. Her wide eyes clearly showed that she saw some resemblance between them and Alex.  
>She looked directly at his mother, who met the woman's eyes with her own.<p>

"Why?"  
>Her expression was a strange mix of wonder, accusation and sorrow.<br>His mother's was confused.

"Why what?"

Liz grabbed Alex's arm and pulled him behind her protectively. This was an answer in itself.

"Liz..." Alex started but she cut him off.

"Why wait seventeen years? After all he has been through, he doesn't need this."

His mother's face flashed with guilt. Her eyes began to pool. The last thing that Marcus wanted to see again was his mother crying. He pulled her behind him protectively mimicking what Liz had done with Alex.

"Hey don't talk to her like that. You don't know the circumstances and you didn't have to leave a child behind in a different country"

Fury blazed in the other woman's eyes. Alex looked completely stunned. Ed, her husband stayed back, watching this unfold. Aiden was clinging to their mom's arm.

"Yes I did, and I went back for him when he had no-one else."

"That's enough!'

Alex seemed to rediscover his voice. He was continuously looking between Liz and his mother. A thought flicked into Marcus' mind. His mother, but Alex's. She was his mother also. And he was stuck between two women that thought of him as their son. Awkward.  
>He stepped out from behind Liz and rested his hand on her shoulder.<p>

"Liz, someone has just tried to kill them. Their house has been burnt to the ground. This is not the time for this conversation."

Liz looked down at her feet and let out a shaky breath. The man, Ed limped towards them, resting his weight on his cane.

"You three can come with me, you need to get cleaned up and I'm sure I can find something for you to wear. While you are doing that Alex can give Liz and I a run down on the current situation and we will see where we go from there."

Marcus couldn't argue with that; he let the man lead him and the girls out of the lounge and towards the stairs. Marcus looked back towards Alex. He had his arms wrapped around himself as Liz held him, his head on her shoulder. Any jealousy he had felt towards him before evaporated. It only took him an hour and a half to work it out but he realised that he got the better end of the deal. Alex lost his family only to have them appear again years later, Marcus just gained a brother.

...Line Break...

John just stared; horrified at the smoking shell that once was his house. The fire and police departments had arrived long before he did. The street was clustered with people. The neighbours were gossiping amongst themselves or being question by police officers. The Fire service seemed to be cleaning up.  
>John strode towards them.<p>

"Sir, you can't come any closer. It's still a safety hazard."

John turned to see a young, male police officer addressing him. He looked back towards the house, taking in the ash and burnt wooden beams. Somehow the front door was still standing, but it was smeared with black soot and smoke. He looked at the officer again.

"It is...was my house."

The officer gave him a sympathetic look.

"My family, they haven't gotten in touch yet. They were supposed to be home."

The other man shook his head.

"Nobody was found inside the building. Although, the neighbours did see about four people escaping it. We have checked in with all the hospitals nearby, but there's been nothing. It seems that they just drove off."

John let out a breath of relief. His legs trembled under him. His family was alive. That aside, they were missing.

"Sir, there is signs of an accelerant being used. This has been labelled as arson. Is there anyone who would wish to harm you or your family?"

_Yes.  
><em>John just shook his head unsure how to answer. It would be unorthodox to mention that he had just returned from a raid that was targeted at assassins who, for years, have wanted his head. The sound of his ring tone saved him from explaining. He removed his cell from his pocket and glanced at the caller number. It was an unknown landline.  
>John looked back at the officer.<p>

"I have to take this."

He didn't even wait for an answer before he walked off and hit the green button.

"Hello?"

_"John!"  
><em>His wife's voice sent waves of relief through him. He let himself drop down to the curb.

"Helen! Are you okay? I've just seen the house and..."

He heard her laugh slightly at him. She sounded exhausted.

_"I'm okay John. The kids are fine also, just a little shaken. We're at Alex's house."_

John fell silent. Wasn't Alex with Yassen? Surely he wouldn't be so stupid to escape federal custody just to go home. John shook his head in confusion.

"Umm, what? How did…" John couldn't even find the words; caught in a sudden bout of verbal dyslexia.

"_He knew John, we were trapped inside and Alex broke us out"._

John let out a shuddering breath, unable to decipher his conflicting emotions surrounding the young man. This was a conversation that would have to wait.

"Right, of course, I'll be there soon. I love you"

He could almost feel Helen smiling on the other end of the phone.

"_I love you too". _The phone clicked as the call ended.

…..Line Break…..

Alex had to fight a small smile as he watched Marcus try on all of his old clothes trying to find something he liked; it was highly amusing. Both boys had taken a shower and Alex felt refreshed and almost brave enough to face the impending situation.

Marcus chucked one of Alex's hoodies onto the end of his bed causing Alex to chuckle.

"You know, for someone who only has boxer shorts you're very picky on what you want to wear".

Marcus looked up at him, his expression shocked; he then smiled and placed fists on his hips in a posing manner.

"What? Is my half-nakedness making you uncomfortable?"

Alex gave him a devilish grin.

"Marcus even if we weren't related you wouldn't be my type".

A light blush bloomed across Marcus' face.

"What about Sabina?" Marcus said this while he searched through one of Alex's draws; he pulled out a Breaking Benjamin band t-shirt and tugged it on, "Is she your type?"

Alex crossed his arms and lent against the doorframe, a scowl on his face.

"We dated before her parents took me in. Don't get any ideas, she likes older guys anyway"

Marcus slipped on some jeans. He had a slimmer frame than Alex so they hung on his hips despite the belt. He looked up at him and mimicked the devilish grin he had received earlier.

"Oh really" He cocked an eyebrow, "So what did you have to do to get her attention?"  
>Alex pretended not to hear the rather suggestive tone in Marcus' voice. He shook his head at his younger brother.<p>

"Forget it mate; it's not gonna happen. She is currently got her eye on her tutor"

Marcus gave a light snort.

"Scandalous"

Alex was about to retort when a sudden commotion erupted from downstairs. He heard Helen and Aiden yelling with Brax adding his own input by barking. It didn't take much of a guess to know who had just arrived.

"Speaking of scandals, your father is here"

An odd expression crossed Marcus' face.

"Our father"

Alex gave him a dead look and shook his head.

"Hardly".

He turned and left the room before Marcus could make a comment.

...

Alex stopped at the bottom of the staircase at the sight of John tightly holding Aiden and Helen. Marcus flew past him, completely missing the last three steps, creating a gust of wind that played with his fringe. John pulled Marcus into the hug and kissed the crown his head. The four of them stayed like that; in a tight hold with their eyes closed, taking in the fact that they were still all there. Alex just sat on the far side of the step with his arms folded feeling rather awkward and out of place. He kept his face void of all emotion and flicked his eyes around the room trying not to stare.

Aiden opened her eyes and met Alex's. She blushed slightly and pulled away from the embrace; embarrassment and guilt were easy to read from her face. Her movement caused the others to pull away as well. Her eyes then flicked from his face to her feet then back to him.  
>Alex was not expecting the tackle hug that came next. He was just stepping of the last step when Aiden ran into him; her arms hooking around him just under his. He unwilling released a gasp as he stepped back to balance himself. He looked down at the blond head hidden in his chest then up at John and Helen who were both smiling slightly. Unsure of what to do, Alex awkwardly wrapped his arms around her shoulders.<p>

"I never said thank you" Her voice was muffled into his shirt.

Alex felt his cheeks go warm and knew he was blushing.

"Umm, your welcome"

Alex hadn't heard his voice sound so uncertain in years.  
>It happened to be at this moment that Sabina and her parents decided to walk in<p>

"Aww, isn't that just so cute" Sabina smirked.

Alex pulled away; Aiden looked slightly disappointed.

"Thanks Sabina"

He tried not to sound so bland but it didn't work. Alex had never seen Ed and Liz look so uncomfortable; John cleared his throat.

"Alex, we seriously need to talk" He eyed up the rest of the occupants in the room. "Alone"

There was an irritation in voice that he was trying to hide and Alex didn't blame him. His foster parents suddenly looked livid: Edward was glowering at John.

"Absolutely not, whatever you have to say you can say it with us present"

Realising that neither Liz nor Edward knew about his predicament, Alex tried to cut in,

"It's okay..." Liz silenced him with a single look.

"No Alex, it is not _okay_. What right does he have to..."

"I have every right!" John was struggling to keep his temper in check now; Sabina snuck his siblings out of the room, Alex had a sudden desire to join them. "Do you have any idea what your _ward_ has been up to of late; today at least".

All eyes turned on him, fighting the urge to run, Alex gave an uneasy smile. Edward and Liz gave him identical looks of questioning. Helen looked more curious.  
>A rock and a hard place indeed.<p>

"Alex" Edward's voice sounded barely steady, "What is he talking about?"

Alex found himself unable to answer, not that it mattered as John did it for him.

"He was arrested for putting a federal agent in the hospital, resisted interrogation for a half hour, escaped custody, stole classified documents, started a three way war in the federal building, ran off with an assassin and _then _proceeded to rescue Helen and the kids from our burning home after somehow knowing that there had been a hit made against them, all in a space of five hours"

John stopped to take a breath, then turned to look at him,

"Anything you would like to add Alex?"

Alex rubbed the side of his face with his hand and muttered quietly,

"Watched an assassin be killed by another, who drove me to his home in the same car that is currently in the driveway" Alex drew his eyebrows together and listed each event in his head. There was no way he was going to mention Amanda. He nodded.

"Yeah, that is all"

John narrowed his eyes at him. He clearly wasn't going to let go the Amanda thing.

"That's not all Alex"

Alex stared back, his eyes hard. He half hoped that John would get the message.  
><em>Drop it!<em>

"I saved your life if that's what you're talking about"

John's face was stone. His eyes were cold. Helen was staring at him in wonder, however Liz and Edward looked horrified. Liz threw up her hands.

"What is all this about being arrested and assassins? How many laws did you break today, huh?" she shook her head in disappointment. "You promised that there would be no more of this"

The expression on her face was a kick in Alex's gut.

"The circumstances changed" his voice was incredibly soft. "And as much as I would like to continue this conversation, I have a plane to catch"

His foster parent's faces went bright red.

"What?!"  
>"What plane?"<p>

Helen looked completely confused; like she was uncertain how to react to all of this.

"Do you do this kind of thing often?"

Alex smirked at her,

"I thought I grew out of it. I think it's a Rider thing"

Helen gave him a bland expression and muttered, "Can't argue with that?"

The uproar that surrounded him died down a little when Liz asked where he was going.  
>Once again John answered for him.<p>

"Nova Scotia" John glanced at him, "that's where you are going isn't it?"

Alex nodded, Edward's eyes flicked between Alex and John.

"Nova Scotia? As in Canada?"

Alex nodded again, seemingly mute. John was staring as if he was trying to get a read on him.

"You can't stop me from going"

John gave him a small smile.

"I know"

Edward went red-faced again.

"What? You're just going to let him go? He could be killed!"

An irritation crawled up Alex's spine.

"I would rather die knowing that I've allowed someone to live than live knowing I've allowed someone to die.

John regarded him, something soft in his gaze.

"When do you leave?"

Liz scoffed.

"I don't believe this"

Alex ignored her.

"In two hours, give or take"

John gave a tiny nod and pulled out his phone.

"Grab your things, I'm going to call in a team; you're not going in there alone"

For the first time since Alex was an infant, John saw his son genuinely smile at him.

**And, we are done for now. You know what comes next? Ian. The original Rider brothers at their best (and worst). We hope you enjoyed this particularly fluffy chapter, for the most part. Gives you a break before shit hits the fan.  
>Two days before school break sooo... don't get your hopes up, we have homework over the break but next update will most likely be quicker due to the fact you have to stop procrastination to procrastinate elsewhere.<br>Until next time,**

**-Jean & Diana**


	18. Of Most Importance

**Not an update but don't close this page yet.  
><strong>**We are just letting those who follow _this _JTH know that its rewrite is now being given the attention it deserves, meaning we are actively writing chapters.  
><strong>**This JTH will receive no more updates. It's done, too many plot holes and the lack of a antagonist was killing it long before we all realised.  
><strong>**We know you all love this story which is why we suggest you start following its rewrite. It's called Jam Transit Hyems Rewrite, recently updated (depending when you read this), not hard to find.**

**Not to brag but it's so much better than this load of fertiliser (high end fertiliser but still fertiliser).  
>We love our story and the plot, we have to do right by it.<br>This JTH will be the foundation for its successor, some things will stay, changes will be made. There will be a stronger plot, more developed characters, an actual antagonist and a more mature voice.  
>We were fifteen when we started JTH. Five years have passed and we are determined to complete it.<strong>

**We are not going to take this story down, so feel free to reread it as often as you wish, but also follow it's successor.**  
><strong>We haven't given up on this story, so please don't give up on us.<strong>

**Kind regards,**

**-Jean & Diana**


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